When I was around twelve or thirteen years old, I was taking a walk with friends through the California desert when I came across a tarantula. Fortunately, I was walking with a biologist, the father of one of my friends in the group, and he proceeded to tell us all about the life and times of a typical California tarantula. Until then, I just thought they were super sized spiders, and stars of some of my favorite old black and white horror movies. But I learned all sorts of things about them, the primary one being that they are basically harmless to humans. So we spent probably an hour watching this spider and its six inch leg span go about its business across the desert landscape, without fear and instead with a sense of curiosity and wonder.
Learning about finances can take a similar journey. If we allow ourselves to be informed by helpful teachers, we can learn the many ways finances can be seen and managed in healthy ways, without fear of ourselves being bitten or poisoned by money and its manifestations. We can start to live with a greater sense of curiosity and even wonder when we begin to see how money is part of our spiritual lives, one of many resources we can offer to God in order to open ourselves more fully to God’s grace and to change the world for the better.
So while balancing a checkbook and other financial tasks can feel like opening a box of spiders, doing them well and with proper knowledge frees us to better understand how our lives function, how day to day living happens through our finances. And then, we are freed by this understanding to better be able to share with others what God has given us, so that they too may be freed to love God and our neighbor all the more deeply.
The Rev. Canon Bruce W. Gray
Canon to the Ordinary
Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis
Learning about finances can take a similar journey. If we allow ourselves to be informed by helpful teachers, we can learn the many ways finances can be seen and managed in healthy ways, without fear of ourselves being bitten or poisoned by money and its manifestations. We can start to live with a greater sense of curiosity and even wonder when we begin to see how money is part of our spiritual lives, one of many resources we can offer to God in order to open ourselves more fully to God’s grace and to change the world for the better.
So while balancing a checkbook and other financial tasks can feel like opening a box of spiders, doing them well and with proper knowledge frees us to better understand how our lives function, how day to day living happens through our finances. And then, we are freed by this understanding to better be able to share with others what God has given us, so that they too may be freed to love God and our neighbor all the more deeply.
The Rev. Canon Bruce W. Gray
Canon to the Ordinary
Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis
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