I want to be like the Joneses.
The Joneses are a great couple.
Fun, lively, adventurous.
And most importantly,
They have lots of money.
They’re both professionals, well respected in their jobs,
And at the end of the month, when their pay cheque arrives
They don’t weep with sadness.
The Joneses love to travel and go and see their friends all the time
They always buy everyone’s drinks at the bar
They produce the most unique and expensive birthday presents for friends
Their clothing is impeccable.
Parties, at the fancy hotels they hire, are an extravagant evening of outrageous fun.
Holidays are filled with business class jaunts across the world
And they can often afford to pay
for other members of their family to join them.
The Joneses are cool.
The Joneses are great.
But the Joneses are not the Millers.
And that makes me envious.
I have this nagging feeling that the Millers
will never be that couple who earn tons of money.
And I thought I was ok with that.
Neither one of us has a tremendous desire to climb the corporate ladder
After Miller man’s brief encounter of retail management,
he realised that he wanted to grow people and not profits
After Miller woman’s profound calling to youth ministry aged 15,
she knew that she was inspired by the thought of impacting the lives of the broken, young and hurting
Neither one of these comes with a massive pay packet
And that was ok
I thought
But five years following graduation
Not even earning enough to meet student loan pay off threshold
And you start to wonder
Is the life of the Millers that good
That effective
That profitable?
And you peek over the fence
And the grass looks lush and bright
And for just a day, or a week
It seems great to roll around
On the other side
Profound night thoughts make me ponder
What is true wealth?
For our wealth of experiences
Of travels to African continent
Jet set transatlantic life
Training people who impact a generation
Helping write book that calls others to action
Mentoring young people and seeing them thrive in their futures
Being told by non-Christians, that our faith seems so strong
Is there not a great richness in this as well?
And commitment made, and stuck to, alongside marriage vows
To live debtless
Unchained
Without credit card, store cards
Mortgage or car loan
And see the real freedom
That could be had
Are we not richer with bank balance that stays in black?
When Father’s holy word says
“fret not yourself”
and
“do not be envious”
I must remind myself
We are the Millers
Called to something different than the Joneses
Or the Smiths, or the Blacks, or the Scots
Our path is individual
And looking over fences
Merely distracts from the garden I am to tend on my own patch
Being rich is not a crime
Being poor is a not a sin
The real travesty of life
Is when I’m so blinded by the endeavour for the more and different to what I have
The world misses out on me concentrating
On the things I am called to
The things the Millers are meant to do.
Photo © Paul Green
