I’m having money problems: tracking, moving, finding, assigning. My mind is slippery with numbers in general and what’s been most problematic are dates and dollars. I haven’t really talked directly with Jesus about money itself, just my anxiety around it—a sense of scarcity being number one.
JC: Growing up in your family, money was used to abuse, to broker power and cause disconnection. Now it will become a tool for connection.
I hear some shop noises, and suddenly we’re in a garage. A very clean garage. Do you know those strips of wood that are hung across a wall expanse with knobs evenly extended? They cause me to think of the Amish because they hang chairs and hats from them. Jesus places one right in front of my view, about seven feet up. As I stare at this empty wooden utility strip, Jesus began his lecture:
JC: You know your symbol for a dollar is an “S” with two bars running through it? Well, let’s hang it on the tool bar.
He then hangs a foot-high “$” in the center of the rack with the wooden knob, resting in between the two vertical bars.
JC: Think of money as being one of your tools. No more or less important than any other tool in your shed. No larger or smaller. But it should be “straight.” It should be kept in place.
With that comment, the dollar symbol is unable to move, the wooden knob keeping the S straight and vertical.
JC: It is no bigger than your other tools. You have your education (he hangs my mortarboard), your books (he hangs a book), some sacred books (he hangs my bible and Tanakh), your family names (he hangs a picture with my last name on it), and you even have your heart (he hangs a red heart symbol). At night, your heart can come here to rest. These are your resources. When things get intense, look at the candle.
With his words, a white candle appears on a shelf above the knobs. It has a perfect flame with a blue tip.
JC: The flame doesn’t go out. It doesn’t waver. Look to it. You are the flame. This is your spirit. These are your resources.
As I look at the shelf, the implication is clear: You have everything you need.
Money is a trigger. There are no more guns, triggers, or smoke. I have the light.
I AM the light.
What I Learned:
Because money was used as power in my family and created imbalances in relationships, money became a trigger for anxiety, tainting my ability to see it as a resource, and obscuring my view of other resources.
My money story is based in the past and needs to be reframed in the present
Reflection Question:
What's your money story and where does it come from?
How does your relationship with money need to be updated?
What are the resources you can hang on your tool rack?