There is Nothing Wrong with Getting a Big Inheritance.

Ed, my neighbor next door, finally has his shoulder back to normal and is out at his farm most days. It was a tough few weeks while Ed was doing physical therapy on his shoulder because he was stuck at home. In boredom and desperation, he talked to me whenever I was in my yard. We certainly did not make any progress in agreeing with each other.

Ed was telling me of a relative, who passed away in Edmonton, and left all his money to one of his two sons. This has caused the will to be contested by the son who got nothing. Ed feels the relative could have shared with a lot more of his family like Ed, himself, as a third cousin. Ed claims that his deceased relative was so rich he was called, ‘Donald Trump,’ behind his back at family functions. So I asked Ed if his relative had 2.9 billion. That total has been reported as Donald Trump’s amount of wealth.

Ed said, “I have heard through family gossip that he was worth five million. He had plenty of money to share with all his relatives.” I suggested to Ed that maybe his relatives didn’t need his money. Ed informed me that maybe they didn’t need it, but they sure could use it. “A nice big inheritance from a rich relative would set a person up to have ample money for years to come. It would give a person the ability to relax and enjoy life,” Ed stated.

I suggested that inheriting money may just make a person, hungrier for more money, as the more money you get the more you want. I warned Ed that it is hard to separate what we need from what we want.

Ed said, “If we get more money than we need, it isn’t greed, it is called getting ahead. You can never have too much money! Everybody buys lottery tickets hoping they will get rich. They want to have lots of money so they can relax, and enjoy life for years to come.”

When I said that not everybody buys lottery tickets, Ed went in his garage and slammed the door muttering that at least 90% of people buy them.

In the Bible Jesus said, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to myself, I have ample goods laid up for myself for many years; relax, eat, drink, and be merry.’

But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ This is how it will be for anyone who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” Either our heart will be, with God or with our wealth. It is one or the other.

 

 

 

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