Aesop tells the fable of “a Countryman who possessed the most wonderful Goose you can imagine, for every day when he visited the nest, the Goose had laid a beautiful, glittering, golden egg.

The Countryman took the eggs to market and soon began to get rich. But it was not long before he grew impatient with the Goose because she gave him only a single golden egg a day. He was not getting rich fast enough.

Then one day, after he had finished counting his money, the idea came to him that he could get all the golden eggs at once by killing the Goose and cutting it open. But when the deed was done, not a single golden egg did he find, and his precious Goose was dead.”

Gratitude is not just a mark of wisdom, as we noted yesterday—it is the key to contentment as well.  The Countryman could have given thanks for the eggs that he had received; or expressed gratitude to God for the miraculous goose that laid them.  But, instead, he only wanted more, and becoming greedy, made himself poor.

Do you often find yourself wishing you had more of something?  Perhaps money, free time, days off school, success in sports, toys?  Of course, we all do, sometimes.  But we must be careful that our desires do not turn into discontentment. 

Seneca said, “It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.”  Every person in this room is rich; we all have been given a miraculous Goose in one way or another.  It is up to us whether we respond with gratitude or with greed.

Have a wonderful day.