You’ve just won $1 billion dollars in the
local lottery. You do not have to pay taxes on your winnings. How will you
spend it?
First, my
children would each get a large portion placed in their college investment
accounts, then I would beef up our retirement investment account and pay off
our house, then if there was anything my parents or in-laws needed assistance
with, I would take care of that for them, and finally, the rest would be
thoughtfully placed with various non-profit, charitable organizations close to
our hearts and/or spent in random acts of kindness, such as the historical
Saint Nicholas, the Greek Bishop of Myra from Turkey, would participate in. He is the “true” model of Santa Clause, giving
to those secretly (like putting coins in the shoes of those left out for him)
on his feast day, December 6th. There are many stories of the ways he assisted
others, often through sharing his family’s wealth, such as when he threw three coin
purses into the home of a man whose three daughters were soon to be sold into
slavery or prostitution because he could not afford a proper dowry for them to
marry. I love that when he saw a need,
he simply gave or did whatever he could to help, seemingly without a second
thought. What a wonderful type of person
to celebrate during this holiday season, someone I think Jesus would have been
proud to include in his own birthday party.
He was also known to defend the true story of Jesus’s birth, especially
when others would try to alter or change it in any way. He was not about himself, but instead what he
could do for others. So, that’s mostly
what my billion dollars would be about (I am not completely unselfish….unfortunately),
providing for others (those close to me and even those I’ve never met).
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