Retaining value

People’s jaws are dropping and leaving them gasping for air as they watch their stock portfolio’s decline in value faster than a lead weight falling through the sky. These are heady times, to say the least, for those who measure wealth and worth according to the value of their financial investments.

No matter how low the stock market drops, though, there is a spiritual peace to be gained that gets an investor through these roller coaster times. True value and worth are spiritual. They are measured according to the spiritual life one is living, and they are permanently embedded into our being as children of God.

My parents were farmers, and I witnessed several financial crises over the years that they had to deal with.

I remember a time in the 1980s (they were orchardists) when the price of apples fell through the floor. An orchardist could not give his land away, literally. It was a liability. Not only were the apple trees worthless, the land was expensive to maintain. The value of their “stock,” you might say, had declined to nothing. Decades of savings vanished over night.

As I watch the value of stocks decline today, I think back to how my mom and dad managed through those challenging times on the farm. They never lost faith in the real substance of their life which was the spiritual qualities they expressed everyday as they went about their work.

Looking back, I can see that they knew their value was more than could be measured by the price of land. They knew their worth was higher than the price of apples. No matter how low the price of land dropped, they kept doing the same thing they always did—caring for their crops with love, working to improve their cultural practices, tending to the daily operations with wisdom, increasing production with progressive technologies, and keeping the faith that times would get better.

Yes, they had to cut back on expenses, delay plans of expansion, and be more frugal, but overall, life didn’t change much on the farm. Everyday was still an enjoyable day, workers still laughed, joy abounded as we watched our treasured seeds grow into plants, and plants form buds, buds turn into fruit and fruit harvested into bins. Life went on regardless of the price of our land. In other words, our happiness, joy, and health in life were not tied to the price of “our stock.” It was spiritual, coming from God, and remained the same regardless of a temporal shift in material valuations.

Land prices did eventually rebound, and orchards once again commanded large sums. The swing in temporal value over those years was extreme, but for those who saw the bigger picture and worked on a higher level, the temporal swing was just that—temporal. It was of none effect in the long run. It came and went, and life went on.

With the wild fluctuations on Wall Street today, the lesson reminds me to keep my perspective. Our life and joy are not tied to the price of stocks. Stock prices go up and down. They always have. Our real wealth and worth, though, is not measured by the price of the securities we own. It’s measured by the spiritual life we’re living.

Our spiritual life consists of manifesting the wisdom, joy, cheer, gratitude, love and care God sends our way and intends for us to express as divine image.

Divine wisdom enables us to make wise choices. Gratitude keeps our thought open to blessings all around that otherwise might not be apparent. Joy and cheer keep thought buoyant and open to fresh, creative, original ideas that prosper activity. Love signals our deserving of God’s blessings.

Enjoy living your spiritual life today, and don’t let the mood on Wall Street become your mood on Main Street!