A Bad Eye

When I was a senior in high school, our history teacher took us on a field trip to the Mel Fisher Treasure Museum in Key West. To this day, I still don’t know how she pulled off getting this trip approved. We practically had free reign through the streets of old town, and perused quite a few of the curio shops. At one store, I got a fake tattoo (of what, I cannot remember) and gleefully put it on my arm, under my shirtsleeve.

Upon returning home that afternoon, I walked up to my mom, pulled up my sleeve and said “Look what I got at Key West!”

I’ve never attempted doing anything like that again.

She literally collapsed onto a chair as the blood drained from her face. She seemed to age ten years right before my eyes.

Scared out of my wits (but not quite as frightened as her) I hastily assured her that it was a fake.

Back to Key West. At the Treasure Museum, we saw the treasures recovered from the Atocha, a Spanish galleon that was lost in a hurricane centuries ago. To date, over $450,000,000 has been recovered (only about HALF of what was on the ship) including 40 tons of gold and silver. Touring the museum, you only saw a fraction of the recovered loot.

In one VERY sturdy display case, you could actually feel the heft of a bar of gold. You slipped your hand in a three-inch cutout and you could push it up with your fingers. Gold is very weighty indeed.

But I actually wanted to FEEL the gold, so I maneuvered my hand so I could wrap it around the bar…then realized I was stuck. I casually looked around and was fortunately able to extricate my fingers (sans the gold bar) without setting off alarms.

I was reminded of my futility yesterday at the library as I witnessed a young boy rattling the lock of our Plexiglas donation box by the circulation desk. He pushed and pried until I finally asked him, “Excuse me sir, can I help you?”
He looked at me and innocently replied, “Oh, I was looking to see if it was locked.”
“Yes. It is,” I replied.

Why do we so often want more?

My mother told me that my first word was “Mas!” (MORE!). No wonder I was such a pudgy baby!

What do we do to ourselves when all we want is just a little bit more?

When Jesus spoke about having a “bad eye”, he was using a Jewish term for being stingy. When we’re stingy, we fill ourselves with darkness instead of light.

I have always found that heartfelt generosity is the fastest way to find satisfaction with what you have.

Who has God placed around you that can benefit from your generosity?

Why not give a little instead? Why not give A LOT instead?

Joe


Matthew 6:19-24
“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.

“Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is bad, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!

“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Hebrews 13:5-6
Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said,
“I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.”

So we can say with confidence,
“The LORD is my helper, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?”