Volume 30, No. 32                                            
August 14, 2005

Spiritual Green Genes

   She was the wealthiest woman in the world but had none of life’s comforts.  Even if money could’ve bought happiness, “the Witch of Wall Street” wouldn’t have parted with the cash.

   Born into a prosperous Massachusetts whaling family in 1835, Hetty Robinson was only six when she started reading her father the financial pages.  At 13 she became a bookkeeper in the family business and invested her earnings.  On her 21st birthday, Hetty came into a multi-million-dollar trust but, by then, preoccupation with money had already taken over her life.  She wouldn’t light the candles on her birthday cake and “waste” them. When friends insisted, she blew them out quickly so she could return them for a refund.

   A decade later, Hetty’s father died, leaving her $7.5 million in liquid assets which she invested in Civil War bonds, increasing her fortune enormously.  She married businessman Edward Henry Green at 33 but they divorced when he became increasingly disturbed by her stingy and quarrelsome nature.  It was so bad that, when Netty’s 14-year-old son Ned hurt his knee in a sledding accident, she refused to take him to a hospital.  Instead, she treated the injury at home and visited free clinics. Eventually the boy's leg had to be amputated.  

   By 1902, Netty was wearing the same black dress day after day.  When she absolutely had to wash it, she insisted it be laundered only on the bottom where it was dirty.  To save more money, she lived in grungy rooming houses where she never turned on the heat or used hot water.  She ate little and went to bed before dark so she wouldn’t need candles.  All the while, she invested shrewdly in real estate and railways, spending hours each day at the bank counting her money.

   In her old age Netty suffered from a bad hernia but refused to have a $150 operation.  She was also afraid of being kidnapped and madeconstant detours to evade her imaginary pursuers. When Hetty Green died in 1916 at the age of 81, she had $100 million — $17 billion in today’s dollars — making her the richest woman in American history.  She left her entire fortune to Ned and his sister, Sylvia, who spent the money freely and generously, funding schools and hospitals.  Hetty would’ve been appalled.

   Before we shake our heads in sadness or disgust at the emotional and spiritual poverty that laid waste her life, let’s see if our heartstrings are as tightly-pulled as Hetty’s pursestrings.  In a culture that prizes open minds, open hearts are much harder to come by, and dysfunction or despair can thrive in the dark. “I pray your hearts will be flooded with light so you can understand the wonderful future [our Father] has promised,” says Paul.  “I want you to realize what a rich and glorious inheritance he’s given his people.” (Eph. 1:18.)  

   Though the promise of eternal life gives peace, hope and purpose to life, the inheritance Paul’s talking about isn’t just heaven.  “I pray you’ll begin to understand the incredible greatness of his power for us...  By his mighty power at work within us, he’s able to accomplish infinitely more than we’d ever dare to ask or hope.” (1:19; 3:20)  

   So why, if we have these unlimited resources, don’t we use them?
The truth is, many of us are so busy trying to build spiritual riches through our religious activities that all we ever emphasize is the race in grace.  We’re constantly trying to do more and know more, but only to fend off guilt and a gut-level misgiving that maybe we still haven’t got quite enough:  enough faith, love, morality or approval.  

   When we try to earn God’s okay by our own efforts instead of relying on the sacrifice of Jesus to make us right with him, we live in the total absence of warmth, comfort and security.  We become spiritually tattered, isolated or sometimes even paranoid.  We deprive those around us of the riches our Father wants us to share because the emphasis is always on us.  Even when we reach out to others, it’s not for their benefit, but only as an investment in our own spiritual future.   

   When it comes to spiritual wealth, God wants us to connect, not just collect;  to use our fortune to educate and heal;  to use and diffuse it, not abuse or refuse it to others.  Do people see evidence you’re a true follower of Christ?  Spiritual generosity is a big giveaway.

By Rick Gamble, published in Cross Current, the weekly newsletter of the followers of Christ congregation in Brantford, Ontario, Canada.  Reprint at will in not-for-profit publications.  To subscribe to this free, weekly newsletter, drop a short note to sgamble@bfree.on.ca