Winning the Lottery

Three days ago, one person matched all six numbers in the Powerball Lottery and won an estimated $2.04 billion. The odds of winning were 1 in 292.2 million.  I have spent a small amount of time dreaming about winning the lottery. Certainly not $2.04 billion, but maybe $5 million. I don’t want to be too greedy. It is not difficult for me to think of a couple of luxuries I would buy if I suddenly had an extra million dollars.  Without financial boundaries, I could quit my job and retire. I could buy a bigger house in a nicer neighborhood, and I wouldn’t have to rely on my neighbors to help me when things break; I could just hire a professional. I wouldn’t have to worry about receiving financial support from the friendships Debbie and I have built over the years, and I wouldn’t have to ever worry again about the constraints of living below my means.

As nice as that sounds, I am sure that if I were ever to win the lottery, everything I hold most dear would change in unpredictable ways, and some of those changes would not be good. This is one reason why I never buy a lottery ticket.

WHAT WOULD CHANGE

If I won the lottery my job would change. Most people dream of winning the lottery so they could quit their job. However, I love my job, but if I had a large balance in my bank account it is hard to imagine how my work would remain unchanged. Any success that I have is largely because of my identification with the young men and women who are in the military. People who are in the military, like me, are people who work hard, have hope that hard work will be rewarded, and have some sense that the United States, although not perfect by a long shot, is a good place to live. If I were suddenly rich, I would lose that close identification I currently share with them.

My friendships would change. I have the best friends in the whole world, and they are people I need. Just in Cheyenne we have good friends who are also our neighbors. Steve, from across the street, has helped us more than once recently.  We just call, and if he can, he comes right over. It is the same with Brian, Will, and Kevin. If I were rich, I probably wouldn’t bother them, I would call a professional. If I were rich, we would probably move to a different house in a different neighborhood.

I also have friends all over the country. These friends have always known us as missionaries, folks who know that we count on their prayers, kindness, and generosity for our survival. If we were suddenly rich our relationship would change. They would still like us, and we would like them, but I think things would be different.

I would lose the sense of achievement I feel from living below my means.  Debbie and I have never made a lot of money and have always had a goal of living on eighty percent or less of our monthly income. It was a decision we made early in our marriage and, through discipline and good luck, we have been able to maintain that goal. There have been times in our life where we have had to save and wait to buy things we wanted, but we have never been in debt (except for our home), and seldom felt a lot of financial pressure. Besides not being in debt and being free from financial pressure, we have always felt that we have been able to acquire everything we have needed and most things that we wanted. It has felt like a game, “can we live well on the eighty percent of what we make as missionaries,” and it feels like we have been able to win that game.

Like all sports it has involved some skill, some discipline, and some luck. (I use the word luck, but I really believe it has been the gracious hand of God who has blessed us. What I mean by luck is we have experienced a lot of blessings that were not the result of any skill or discipline.)

Research shows there are five elements of happiness: good friends, meaningful work, achievement, engagement, and purpose. My limited income has been a big contribution to the first three of these elements. There have been times I have been frustrated with my financial boundaries, but when I think of a life without these boundaries it doesn’t look good.

Of course, I can’t know for sure how my life would change if I won the lottery, but I think the odds are against my life getting better. So, I thank God for the financial boundaries He has put in my life, and I pray that today you find contentment in the boundaries that God has placed around you.