The Eye of a Needle
by: Jon Crane

Saturday Ramblins, Vol. 1, No. 21 (October 10, 1998)

... yet who has anything which is not Yours?
St. Augustine, Confessions, Book I, Chapter 4

I've been told all my life that it is harder for a rich man to get into heaven than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. Well, if poverty is the only criteria for heaven, then hand me sainthood now. But I think it's a much broader issue than just material wealth; it is the appreciation and recognition of all God's gifts.

Certainly, the pursuit of worldly goods and gains can run counter to our own salvation; but there are many false gods beyond money and what it can bring. There is the danger of taking good things for granted.

The person living in a loving and nurturing family, the adult who has married and built his own good home has riches, too. They are the kind of riches that cannot be bought with money. Yet, is there not a danger that he might take the situation for granted, forgetting that this wealth of love and family joy is also a gift from our Heavenly Father?

Our talent to do a particular job or activity well -- maybe better than most -- is also one of the riches God gives to us. The woman who is the best tennis player at her country club or the man with remarkable artistic talent, without a realization and acknowledgment of that talent and ability, run the same risk with his or her soul as the person who worships money above all else. All of the good things in our lives, from an appreciation of the music we like to the kindness shown to us by some angel on the street, are gifts from above.

God's miracles are not just limited to the biblical past; they can be found throughout the things of our daily life. Remember the miracle Christ performed at the wedding feast in Cana where He turned water into wine. But you didn't have to be there. Everyday God causes rain to fall on the fields. The roots of the grapevine take up the water and send it through the branches to the grapes. The juice of the grapes is extracted, allowed to ferment: the miracle continues.

Remember the miracle on the mount--the feeding of the masses with loaves and fishes? Our lakes, rivers and seas teem with fish put there by God. Each year during the harvest, by the grace of God enough grain is harvested to feed whole nations. The miracle persists if we take time to see it and acknowledge it.

What, then, in our lives, as Augustine asked, is not His? Recognition and acknowledgment of God's many gifts in day-to-day life is good for our souls. In the words of the Psalm, "Great are the works of the Lord, to be treasured for all their delights" (111: 2).

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