When I was a young teen, my dad experimented with investing in the commodity futures market. He grew potatoes on the family farm, and a farmer friend had convinced him to hedge his crop against low prices through the purchase of futures on a commodity exchange. Dad lost several thousand dollars in the venture and swore never to invest in the futures market again.
The lesson was painful enough that he developed a philosophy for life out of the misfortune. He said to me, “Son, never put your money into an investment you don’t understand.” He stuck with his motto and prospered in the farming business, which he did understand. Our family has benefited over the years in heeding his hard-earned lesson. Loss was turned into gain.
In tough economic times, people’s faith in a turnaround can be tried by unemployment, credit crunches, bleeding budgets, shrinking income, and mounting debt. There is a spiritual lesson to be learned, though, and a blessing to be gained in these difficult periods that enable us to triumph over lack. Supply is not temporal, subject to cyclical human conditions. Its substance is spiritual, produced by God, and available independent of cash levels in the bank. Through prayer we reach this spiritual understanding, which brings blessings and turns loss into gain.
