How We Spend ...

Here's a story I told my two youngest children yesterday ...

There was once a king who gave a trusted friend $1,000 to travel to a nearby city and buy him a fine pipe with a large pouch of quality tobacco.  The friend arrived in the city and was tempted by the lure of an exotic restaurant. He reasoned, "It only cost $50 for a fine meal. I'll still have $950 left, enough for that wonderful pipe and tobacco. The king's request will still be fulfilled."

After the restaurant, he passed a clothing store. He saw a "perfect suit" advertised on sale for only $150. He mused, "By the time I buy this suit, I'll still have $800. With a bit of care and bargaining, I should still be able to buy the exactly the same pipe and tobacco the king originally requested."

The suit was bought. Right next store was a shoe store, for mere $100 he could have splendid pair of shoes, a glossy shining match to his new suit - perfectly suited ! "Ah", He thought, "I'll just have to put some of the king's order on credit. It would be a shame to pass up this pair of shoes."

Before long one purchase led to another until the whole $1,000 was spent. Now he was ashamed to return to the palace. He looked around for work to earn back the money. As a pampered favorite in the palace, he did not have many skills useful in an urban setting. Finding work was difficult. He had to accept low paying positions at the bottom of the societal ladder.

Meanwhile the king was frantic. "Where is my friend?" He wondered both to himself and aloud. Finally, he sent guards to fetch him. It was not long before the guards found him and brought him back to the palace - red faced with embarrassment for having spent the king's money and proven to be untrustworthy. Of course the king forgave his friend, but, the embarrassment painfully still lingered on for quite while. It took a long time for the relationship to regain its original feelings of intimacy.

Lesson: The King of the universe gives us many gifts and talents. These gift and talents take many forms: time, health, sensitivities, family, friends, intelligence, education, abilities, money, property, etc. This is the $1,000 the King gives us. He asks us to visit the earth plane and bring Him back something. Surprisingly, what He's asking for is not so much what He wants, but really what we want; namely, a chance to express the yearning of souls to give. The soul wants to give kindness. Paradise has everything. In heaven, there is no need for souls to give. So as the Loving Parent the Creator is, He sends the soul to place offering plenty of opportunity to give - this world. Here, there's enough darkness for the soul to brighten up. 

In giving the soul this opportunity, the King outfits the soul with a wide variety of resources. It's both the Creator's hope and the souls hope that the resources will be used to their fullest on the opportunities the soul craves. However, what happens when the body's desire to selfishly receive gets in the way and the person is swayed to indulge? This is like misspending the King's money. This is betraying both the Creator and oneself. Ultimately, the deepest inner satisfaction is attained when the soul brings into fruition his/her dream, which is to manifest his/her inner vision of kindness into the world.