On Being a Moneymaker

All these years I’ve been living life
Like money isn’t real
Never making decisions based on it
But focusing more on how I feel

I’ve walked away from high paying gigs
To work in shipping and receiving
Just because I wanted to
No thought of what I was achieving

I’ve disappointed around the world
For not fulfilling my potential
All the while feeling quite at peace
With an air that’s presidential

I felt just like a rich man
Doing what I wanted to do
Never thinking that my bank account
Meant my riches were not true

I saw life as an adventure
A journey to be savored
All I needed was provided for
As if I lived a life of favor

Then someone brought to my attention
That I was not living life to plan
I should be a millionaire by now
Getting everything I can

But instead I’m still just bopping along
Doing what I do
Believing that everything is working out
In accordance with heaven’s view

But lately I’ve been wondering
What if I’ve been wrong
What if seeking Truth is a task for fools
And life was about Benjamins all along

Then that puts me way behind
I may never win the race
All my friends are miles ahead
While I was running in One Place

What if love of money isn’t evil
But love of God is the distraction?
What if I’ve been “bait and switched”
And missed my chance at satisfaction?

I could have been a moneymaker
The one calling all the shots
Instead of trying to know my soul
And purify my thoughts

I could have been stacking paper
Collecting fees and cashing checks
Instead of studying root causes
So that I can undo their ill effects

When I was busy seeking the Kingdom
Stuff was added to another
It might turn out I’m the prodigal
Being shamed by the other brother

What if YOLO* was the real deal
While I was thinking I’d live forever?
Which had me living fancy free
When I should have been under pressure?

When I was considering the lilies
And the birds of the air
I should have considered my 401k
Instead of casting all my cares

Well at least that’s what I’ve been wondering
For at least the past few years
When people were looking down on me
For not passing up my peers

They tell me that with a mind like mine
They would’ve managed so much more
But I said if their mind was just like mine
They wouldn’t be keeping score

The fact is that while I’m wondering
If my choices were mistakes
I do so from Eternity
Which is beyond both time and space

I can always be a moneymaker
In fact I’ve been one at other times
That’s why I know the value it really has
Comes not from what it buys

Money is a form of expression
For what you hold most dear
So what we have or do not have
Can’t make our riches clear

So the best measure of my worth
Is the measure of my love
And how much I can give of it
Is all I should be thinking of.

*You Only Live Once