Winning Ticket

I once heard the following old (well, maybe not so old) story:

A rabbi was despondent because his synagogue was having rough times financially. He saw all of the good that his synagogue could do in the community--programs to help the poor; classes to teach God's word; ministries for troubled members of the synagogue--if only they had a healthy bottom line. Finally he came upon a solution.

Every night he prayed, "Dear God, we can do so much good here if only we had some money to cover our expenses. Please let me win the lottery so that we can do your work."

For weeks and weeks he prayed, fervently and sincerely asking for Divine fortune, but to no avail. Finally he let his frustration get the better of him, and that night he prayed, "Dear God, for weeks now I have been imploring you to let me win the lottery. We can do so much work for these people if only we had the money. Why do you not grant me this request."

Suddenly, a voice boomed within his room, "So meet me half-way, Rabbi, at least buy a ticket."

(Disclaimer: I hope I haven't offended anyone by using a rabbi in this story. Feel free to substitute a Catholic priest, Protestant minister, Buddhist monk, or whichever form of clergy you please as the story's protagonist if you prefer.)

Have you ever felt so frustrated with your financial position that you prayed for some heavenly help? I know that I have. But let me ask you: did you buy your ticket?

Of course, I'm not referring to buying an actual lottery ticket; I mean, have you taken any steps to increase your income so you can afford the things you want or want to do? Remember, nothing in life is available just for the asking. (Well, almost nothing, and certainly nothing worth having.) Every lottery windfall comes only after you pay the cost of buying the ticket (or, more likely, many tickets).

So what are the lottery tickets you can buy? Here are the two best possibilities:

• Go to school, take classes, or buy learning materials to increase your skill set, so you can be more valuable to your (or a new) employer;
• Start your own business.

The former is akin to hoping that, after you buy your lottery ticket, your numbers come up. You're still depending on an employer to agree to hire you or give you a raise if you already have the job. With the latter you have much more control over the likelihood of hitting the winning numbers.

I'm going to end this essay right here because, well, truthfully I'm too tired to expand on it today. But I do want to post this introduction to the "buy your ticket" idea now to get you thinking about it. I'll expand on it in a "Part Two" when I have a chance in the near future. In the meantime, please post any comments you may have about this metaphor. And read my prior posts on this blog to get an idea of what Part Two may have to say.

Thanks for reading this today, and I'll see you on the road to prosperity.