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Better is a little with the fear of the Lord
than great treasure and trouble with it.
Better is a dinner of vegetables where love is
than a fatted ox and hatred with it.
–– Proverbs 15:16-17
We were walking down Madison Avenue on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, a window-shoppers paradise as long as you stay on the wiser side of the window. While the side streets are lined with stately brownstones and palatial granite townhomes displaying sculptured shrubbery on each stoop, the first floors of the buildings lining the Avenue host the poshest boutiques on this side of the Atlantic. Small in size, yet never cramped with inventory, their racks shunning overcrowding with each item hanging elegantly, independently and freely, untouched by another garment, as if declaring to the world that the fortunate soul who wears this dress will never ride the subway. Next door, a watch worth a year’s salary is set beside a jeweled necklace equaling two years income before taxes. Perhaps while pondering your purchase you could sit in the sun outside the small cafe, whetting your appetite with the $80 bowl of lobster bisque before nibbling on a $180 caviar pastry. We tend to remain on the wiser side of these windows, knowing we’ll be immediately identified as posers with no intention of busting our IRAs for a leather valise. On this Avenue, even the brands you recognize will be displayed in colors that don’t find their way out of that zip code. Even so, we did brave the threshold of one quirky little gift shop where grandparents could indulge their grandkids with a new Duncan yo-yo or a box of Kraft mac and cheese gummies (🫣).
Back on the Avenue, we were passed by a man, walking with exasperated intention and speaking with curt clarity, as one might when feeling the stress of forcing a plan to come together which entails making the population of the plan cooperate. What we heard him say was something like, “Listen … No, listen! We’re renting the helicopter to pick us up near our place in the Hamptons and bring us back to the city…" By that point he had turned the corner, speeding up his pace as if further agitated by the details. And, it struck me, he’s getting pretty stressed for a spring weekend with the family at their summer house, and odds are he tends to make those around him stressed also. There are those for whom life is persistently a stirring pot. Even recreation becomes a synonym for agitation as those who walk this world with him are slow to bend to his will or fall short of his extortionate expectations.
Of course, the paroxysms of this sort of mobile, fire-breathing storm cloud are not limited to the well-heeled among us. In another part of town, it could have been a welder skewering his spouse for not only forcing him to take the family to visit his mother-in-law in Long Island, but additionally expecting him to face the gridlock of Friday evening rush hour to get them there. Elsewhere in the city, it could be two actors essentially, and very publicly, breaking up because their summer stock theaters are in different states, and the lure of the role is stronger than the fraying thread of love.
Whether your treasure is the billionaire’s boast, the welder’s freedom from family, or the actor’s dreams of the limelight, whenever the treasure is more important than the core values of one’s relationships (generosity of spirit, mercy, kindness, and faithfulness), we fall behind, and even step backwards, on the journey toward wholeness. If your wants always entail intimidating others to get your way, it may be time for different priorities. A selfish spirit shrinks one’s character and pollutes their environment. “Better is a dinner of vegetables where love is than a fatted ox and hatred with it.”
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