Contentment
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Updated
April 30, 2009
According to Forbes magazine, Allen Stanford is developing an exclusive island somewhere in the Caribbean. Called the "Island Club," it will provide parking for 100 private jets, and its marina can accommodate 30 giant yachts. The annual membership fee is 15 million dollars!
Before you envy the people who will build their mansions there, consider the wisdom of Ray Hicks. For years he was the star of the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee. He told stories at the Smithsonian. He received awards from the North Carolina Folklore Society and the National Endowment for the Arts, among others. He turned down trips to England and offers from the “Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.” He continued to live in his remote mountain home—a house without modern conveniences. He said, “I see’d what money done to others. I don’t want much. I just want enough to do me.” His grammar may have been off center, but his philosophy was dead center.
That philosophy was also expressed by a young lady who said to her pastor, “I’m afraid of money. I saw what it did to my parents, and I am afraid of it.” Certainly it was best expressed by the apostle Paul when he wrote: “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want” (Philippians 4:12, NIV).
Before you envy the people who will build their mansions there, consider the wisdom of Ray Hicks. For years he was the star of the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee. He told stories at the Smithsonian. He received awards from the North Carolina Folklore Society and the National Endowment for the Arts, among others. He turned down trips to England and offers from the “Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.” He continued to live in his remote mountain home—a house without modern conveniences. He said, “I see’d what money done to others. I don’t want much. I just want enough to do me.” His grammar may have been off center, but his philosophy was dead center.
That philosophy was also expressed by a young lady who said to her pastor, “I’m afraid of money. I saw what it did to my parents, and I am afraid of it.” Certainly it was best expressed by the apostle Paul when he wrote: “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want” (Philippians 4:12, NIV).