Contemplations

POOR BUT RICH      My family did not have much money, but we were rich nevertheless. We were not poor because my father was lazy. He worked long, hard hours at jobs that were hazardous and physically demanding. But for many years he received low pay. Low pay plus a large family equals poor. God blessed us with other riches, though, that cannot be found in monetary things.      My parents had four small children, all girls, over a span of as many years. Even so, when the youngest (twins) were two years old, my parents were willing to take in my two young cousins, a boy and a girl, who had become homeless. They were the same ages as the two oldest of we siblings. A few years later, two more babies, a girl and boy, entered the family about two years apart. Mom and Dad were poor in cash, but rich in compassion and love.      We learned to have fun naturally and did not rely on the artificial fun that comes from things that money can buy, “canned fun,” or worldly activit