Someone Will Get Your Stuff
Saturday-Sunday, August 9-10, 2025
Someone Will Get Your Stuff
Today, I’m offering a brief reflection suggested by the Catholic (and other denominations’) lectionary from last Sunday and this Sunday. Many readers are not Christian or are not religious at all; however, I think the concepts can easily be discussed from a human perspective without needing a religious or spiritual element.
In Luke 12:16-20, we find the Parable of the Rich Fool:
The land of a rich man brought forth plentifully; and he thought to himself, “What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?” And he said, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones; and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry!’” But God said to him, “Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?”
That is to say, “You’re going to die, and someone else will get your stuff.” This glum notion is attributed to King Solomon in the Book of Ecclesiastes (Eccl. 2:21):
… because sometimes a man who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave all to be enjoyed by a man who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil.
When we discussed this verse last Sunday, I suggested that two things can be true at the same time: That you’ll die, and someone else will get your stuff; and that what we do “with wisdom and knowledge and skill” or as an expression of other positive attributes — creativity, compassion, patience, perseverance, humor — retains its value in the universe regardless of the ultimate outcome.
Back in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus, having addressed his parable to “the multitude,” goes on to tell “his disciples” the famous lines about lilies of the field and birds of the air, to the effect that God will look after them, so they shouldn’t be anxious about their stuff. “For all the nations of the world seek these things: and your Father knows that you need them.” (Lk. 12:30)
He continued,
Fear not, little flock, for it is your father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give alms to the poor. Provide yourselves with purses that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Lk. 2:32-34)
I thought about selling possessions and giving to the poor, and then I thought, “Nobody wants your stuff enough to pay for it!” One of the most difficult things about reducing your house’s contents is finding someone who will take your stuff, even for free. Even poor people have too much stuff, in many cases: especially dogs.
There are many ways people can balance different aspects of our money and our stuff. One can’t recommend, say, failing to save for retirement and then saying, “Oh, well. Someone else will just have to support me!”; on the other hand, we can excessively emphasize saving for the future and then get hit by a bus and not get anything out of it.
What do the words, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also,” mean to you?
Placido Domingo, everyone. Thor bought a car yesterday: he's being laid off from the job that provided the car, and he needs to get to school and hopefully a new job before too long. He was looking at a Volvo but ended up with a Subaru. He'll need a driver in a few days to take him to pick it up; maybe he can work it out with Sheldon, his roommate.
Forecast is 84Fs, probably won't rain. Epic Fail should mow the lawn.
I came in 2nd at Wingspan last night. Thor won.
A week ago I did a presentation to our monthly meeting about our foundation. A new member of the foundation who didn't do the onboarding meeting (the member is unaware we employ negative screens for companies with values we don't support, like weapons) asked if we had saved too much money for retirement. No one felt they had oversaved, even a 95 year old who is wealthy. They all agreed there are unforeseen things it is good to have some savings for and that quelled the "we have too much money" complaint.
I emphasized the foundation doesn't make spending decisions, just investment ones. I recommended the meeting decide how much it wants to give away, and then we can set that aside in a money market fund. That opened a lot of eyes in the meeting. I recommended we grow the fund, but give away a good portion of our annual earnings (pct tbd). So if the foundations gains $50k next year, give away a good chunk of that, while growing the foundation a bit as well. So we'll see how it goes.
Since Thursday evening I've been at Turkey Run State Park for a Katie family reunion. We had tech issues so I didn't get online successfully until yesterday evening. Katie ran the 2nd annual pickleball tournament, and two cousins won, defeating our youngest (last year's winner) and his partner. We drew partners at random, so we broke up some good teams from last year. The softball crowd was angry because everyone wanted to play pickleball. One issue is the Dad was letting his 12yo daughter pitch, and she insisted on fast pitch, which isn't what you want for a friendly game. But we'll do softball again tonight between the cookout and the hayride. Two cousins are 9 months-ish pregnant, so I asked one to do the pickleball tournament, then go down as if contractions started. I even offered to spill my water bottle near her, to make it more realistic. She declined, out of fear the adults would disapprove. She doesn't know katie's family well! Tomorrow is the big carry-in lunch, expecting 90+ to attend.
We also hacked my youngest's phone while he played pickleball. We changed the background scenes, changed the tone on his phone/text/etc., rearranged tiles, etc.