Economic Parables

This morning I looked out my kitchen window waiting for the kettle to boil water for my first coffee of the day. The house overlooks our small town, and it was shrouded in the most majestic mist. It looked so wonderful. In such moments you can only stand in awe at the beauty of creation.

This house, this view of nature was bought during the good times. Today is a struggle to stay here. It is so easy to forget the value of the things we have, and sometimes we need reminding.

How often are we too busy to stand in awe of nature? Too busy, appointments to make, things to do, a flight to catch.  You know what it’s like. Times are good, money in the bank and the financial future looks secure. It’s easy to feel your human strength. It’s easy to forget God as well. When you’re out of a job, the bills aren’t being paid or you’re wondering if you’re on the economic scrapheap, God seems the only one prepared to listen.

Bad times are a reason to reflect on what we have and where we are in life. If we’re out of a job then we examine how we got there. If we have a job then we wonder for how long. We all hope in expectation of an improving economy.

It is crisis time. A double-dip recession, the Tea Party,Occupy Wall Street and daily doses of economic gloom remind us of the limitations of the economy. It is a tool, not the outcome. The economy reflects the society we are and what we want. If we look at the economy we can learn about ourselves and what is important.

Maybe, just maybe then, God wants this economy. There is an opportunity for us to examine our life and our nation to see if we are living right. Crisis is cathartic, and we can benefit from these trying times as individuals and as nations. The economy will improve, no doubt about that, but will we change?

If we look back to the cross then we have to see both the suffering and the promise of redemption. How can our suffering, in this economy, compare to that hill? We may feel we are in the depths, but our economic suffering is as naught compared to the cross, and redemption is beyond our making, it is freely offered to us. Now there’s a bargain in this economy!