Invest in the eternal

Ezekiel 7:12

The time has come, the day has arrived.  Let not the buyer rejoice nor the seller grieve, for wrath is upon the whole crowd. NIV

This verse is part of a broader set of verses in The Message which reads, “”Judgment Day! Fate has caught up with you. The scepter outsized and pretentious, pride bursting all bounds, Violence strutting, brandishing the evil scepter. But there’s nothing to them, and nothing will be left of them. Time’s up. Countdown: five, four, three, two… Buyer, don’t crow; seller, don’t worry: Judgment wrath has turned the world topsy-turvy. The bottom has dropped out of buying and selling. It will never be the same again. But don’t fantasize an upturn in the market. The country is bankrupt because of its sins, and it’s not going to get any better.” MSG

Pretty dire stuff!

Buyer, don’t crow … seller don’t worry.  I think that’s so interesting.

How often have I “crowed” about a deal?  Several weeks ago, I spent 11 days in a very small town in rural Texas.  I had my days all to myself while the family I was visiting tended to their daily obligations — work and school.  I combed all the little shops and enjoyed poking around in bakeries and coffee shops.

I found a matched set of three stained glass windows, with which I fell completely in love.  On the last day of my visit, the store posted a thirty percent off sale.  Now, those windows, which already were an insanely good deal compared to what I’d buy them for here … were “buy two get one free!”  Or, at least that was how I justified the impractical purchase.

Stained glass windows are both heavy and fragile … a shipping nightmare.  To top it off, the town was so small that it didn’t have a pack and ship … in fact, the woman that I asked had never even heard of a “pack and ship” store.  When I explained the concept, her response was, “what a great idea!”  Followed by, “Nope, we don’t have one of those.”

Buyer don’t crow.

My great deal actually worked out to cost about the same as if I had purchased the windows here, due to the ultimate shipping cost.  But, I’m still marveling at the find … three matched is pretty rare in my experience.

Seller don’t worry.

I always worry, when selling something, if I’ve gotten the best price … even if it’s a garage sale where I’m selling things that I obviously no longer want or use, I wonder if I’m getting the best price I can.

I love these verses … they speak to where we are today.

Just this week, one night on the news, there were a series of terrible  catastrophes reported … an earthquake and tsunami followed by a volcano eruption in Indonesia, a storm causing unprecedented barometric lows in the middle part of the country that spawned multiple tornadoes and much destruction, a cholera epidemic in Haiti, and a bed bug infestation at the United Nations.

There is a countdown … while we may not be at five, we are closer than we were yesterday to the second coming … closer even than when I started this post early this morning.

What I buy and sell is temporary … my investments need to be in the eternal.

That’s what I’ll think about today.