A Huguette Problem

Now I know two ladies that are 104 years old. Minnie Whicker who is the sweetest, dearest Christian lady I know and Huguette Clark billionaire heiress. Well, I don’t really "know" Huguette but I did read about this eccentric recluse who is heir of a fortune that rivals the Rockerfellers with multi-million dollar properties and priceless art collections. Huguette has a 100 million dollar mansion in Santa Barbara, a 24 million estate in New Canaan, Connecticut and a 100 million dollar apartment complex on Fifth Avenue in New York that consists of the entire eighth floor and half of the twelfth floor in a building overlooking Central Park. However, Huguette does not live in any of these properties and they all sit vacant and are only visited by those whose job it is to maintain these opulent sentinels of loneliness. This is a Huguette problem!

The problem is not riches but the burden of such riches that crush a soul and consign them to being a recluse afraid of the greedy and paralyzed by imagined fears. Mrs. Clark’s entombment of wealth reminds me not of the aged but the rich young man who came to Jesus (Mark 10:17-31). Jesus request for him to sell all that he had and give it to the poor was too much for him to bear for the text says, "He went away sad, because he had great wealth." Jesus wanted him to see that wealth was not discovered in a bank account or properties but treasure laid up in heaven. That is, in the currency of love, sacrifice, compassion and mercy that has eternal value. Wealth at its best is a tool for accomplishing great benevolent and compassionate purposes… at its worst it is a roadblock to the heart and a millstone around the neck of spiritual awareness. Jesus sums up by saying, " many who are first will be last and the last first." Which brings me back to the beginning…

Do you want to be a Minnie or a Huguette? I’ll be a Minnie… mini in my desire to Lord it over anyone or anything… many as in the throng beneath the throne of God who worships Him in praise and many as in deeds that serve in the name of Christ Jesus our Lord! I’ll keep Huguette in my prayers hoping that God will find away to squeeze this camel through the eye of a needle! As Jesus said, "With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God." -DAN