St. Basil the Great has a famous quote for this foolish rich man and for us, "The bread which you do not use is the bread of the hungry, the garment hanging in your wardrobe is the garment of him who is naked, the shoes that you do not wear are the shoes of the one who is barefoot, the money that you keep locked away is the money of the poor, the acts of charity that you do not perform are so many injustices that you commit.
I often think along these lines after my kids end some long list of requests. Do they really need more? Is it healthy to bless all the time? Isn't deprivation or at least lack or delay, a good thing to experience? Doesn't it usher in a holy appreciation for what we have?
Do we really need all we have? Should we have all we have?
We put the video games on the shelf for a while and low and behold Christian picks up destiny's guitar and starts learning to play stryper songs in his room. Now that wouldn't of happened if we wouldn't of added a little deprivation to our homelife. It birthed creativity. How much of our lives are poor because we are too rich? I am not speaking money really but simply in terms of opportunity. The more we can do often leads to less that we do. Could less really produce more, at least in terms of things that are of value?
Maybe this is more at the root of the blessing spoken of by Jesus for those who are poor of spirit.
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