I didn’t wake up Saturday morning six-hudred and forty million dollars richer. That could be because I didn’t buy a lottery ticket in the mega-millions sweepstakes. One reason I didn’t buy a ticket is because I read that I’m nine times more likely to have a t.v. fall on my head and kill me this year than win the lottery. And I thought, “Sheesh, if that happened, who would spend all the money?” (I know the answer, Felic, in case you are about to raise your hand.)

Anyway, I didn’t buy a ticket. (Disclaimer: my husband still sends in Publisher’s Clearinghouse faithfully, and I’m cool with that. I’m willing to gamble a stamp.)

I’m also content with getting money the old-fashioned way: earning and investing.

Evidently, my husband’s seventeen-year-old-self was all about freedom from greed. I’ve heard the taped radio broadcast where he was interviewed as a high-school senior and said, “I want to be a doctor. But it isn’t about the money. I just want to go some place where people really need help and then make a difference in their lives. I don’t care about making money.”

And, thus, I was cursed before I ever met the man.

That’s exactly what we have done, of course. Wendell has always practiced rural medicine, which doesn’t bring in the kind of money most physicians make. But, we are still wealthy compared to many of our patients. Plus, we make bushels of friends. And, hopefully, some amount of difference.

Six years ago, when I was trying to decide if I should give up my job and go to work in Wendell’s clinic, I pondered these things. Should we put all our theoretical eggs in that basket which had a few gaping holes at the time?

Here is the answer I found one morning in Proverbs 27:

Know the state of your flocks,
and put your heart into caring for your herds,
²⁴ for riches don’t last forever,
and the crown might not be passed to the next generation.
²⁵ After the hay is harvested and the new crop appears
and the mountain grasses are gathered in,
²⁶ your sheep will provide wool for clothing,
and your goats will provide the price of a field.
²⁷ And you will have enough goats’ milk for yourself,
your family, and your servant girls.

I resigned that day. And now Wendell and I work together, which is a dream fulfilled from our first date. And there has always been plenty of goats milk for us, our family , and our faithful staff.

So, I guess that’s the real reason I didn’t buy a lottery ticket. I know the state of my flocks. And I trust the provision of my Shepherd.