"Money Makes Me, Me!"

No, this isn't a blog begging for money (although I am accepting donations for the "Josiah's Ecuador Party Money" fund).

As you probably know, I go to a private Christian university known for integrating faith and academics fairly well. This school isn't cheap... so most people attending this school have enough money to live.

I live in a suburban city. I had mulitiple friends in high school who had cars given to them when they turned 16, didn't work during the year, and/or had fairly large houses on one of Michigan's lakes.

Now a pet-peev of mine has always been those kids who have money but don't want to be known as someone with money. Comments like, "C'mon, [insert affluent kid's name], your family is rich, buy me just one burrito." Rich kid replies, "Yeah right! I had to do all the dishes to get this $50 from my Dad!" A disagreement concerning the actual wealth of said family then follows and nothing is really resolved. Let me say this to you, affluent kid, "you have money, deal with it."

But that's not the point of this blog. What I want to address is the kid with not as much as "rich kid." Isn't it funny how we take pride in not having money? I assume this comes from the whole dreamy idea of "rags to riches" where one can claim "I worked my way to where I'm at!" The thought of having any sort of advantage in life is offensive.

I suppose I always put myself in this category because c'mon, I had to pay for movies in high school and chip in for half of my first car! I scrimped and scraped from square one!

The bigger problem I'm seeing here is the financial classification itself. Why do I let myself be defined by how much money I have (or don't have)? What a ridiculous thought it is to believe that the amount of money I have or don't have makes me more or less of a person.

Now I don't want to downplay the words or actions of Jesus. I still think that not only an attitude of dependency on God for material things is required but also a follow-up on that by actually giving and living to/with the poor. It's just dumb how money makes a person in a lot of societies.

For the record, I realize I have money. I live in America - I have money. I go to a private school - I have money. I have a car and am able to put gas in it - I have money.

Where to? Hopefully to a place void of judgement in the monetary sense (or any sense really). Yeah, there's people out there who spend too much (yeah, in the church too). But hey, I mis-spend the bit I have as well. I want to come to the place of being conservative in spending for myself while being extravagant in my spending for others... but I'm not there and even when/if I do get there, I'm sure there'll still be further to go.

I'll end it the same why most of my journal entries have ended recently - Lord, help me.

post -note: (I had all these marvelous thoughts on how this thought would come out so eloquently and make everyone read it go, "wow, that Josiah guy has so many interesting thoughts and puts it so well." Unfortunately, I don't think I've achieved either of those marks. So I apologize for my thoughts being incomplete or totally thought-out and my written word being slightly confusing.)