The Wealth Money Can't Buy

I came across this quote from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry in his book Terre des hommes yesterday that I really like: “Il n'est qu'un luxe véritable, et c'est celui des relations humaines. En travaillant pour les seuls biens matériels, nous bâtissons nous-mêmes notre prison. Nous nous enfermons solitaires, avec notre monnaie de cendre qui procure rien qui vaille de vivre. Si je cherche dans mes souvenirs ceux qui m'ont laissé un goût durable, si je fais le bilan des heures qui ont compté, à coup sûr je retrouve celles que nulle fortune ne m'eût procurées.”  My rough translation of this is: “There is only a true kind of wealth, and that is human relationships.  By working for material things only, we build ourselves our own prison.  We lock ourselves in solitude, with our money that provides nothing worth living for.  If I search in my memories those which have left me a lasting savor, if I take stock of the hours that have counted, I certainly find those which no fortune would have obtained for me.”  I think we would add that it is human relationships and heavenly relationships that are the source of real wealth in this life.  In fact, it is in obeying the two great commandments that we find those two sources of real joy in life.  As Jesus taught: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Matt. 22:37-39).

It surely is one of the great challenges in life as disciples of Jesus Christ to learn to value relationships and people over our own personal comfort, accomplishments, and acquisition of material things.  President Monson gave us this wise counsel: “Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved.”  That can certainly be difficult when the pressures of life mount and the personal difficulties we face overshadow our vision to see the needs of those around us.  The Savior’s parable of the Good Samaritan shows us extreme examples of those who did not heed this counsel and one who did.  The priest and the Levite who both “passed by on the other side” showed that they believed their business—whatever it was—was more important than helping and loving someone in dire need.  The Samaritan on the other hand showed that he valued the life of this individual who had fallen among thieves above his own personal interests.  At the end of the story the Samaritan showed truly where his heart was: “He took out two pence, and gave them to the host [of the inn], and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee” (Luke 10:35).  He cared for this unknown individual more than he cared his own money; he showed that loving this man in dire need was more important than tending to any of his own personal problems. 

             I think that this teaching about the next life from the Prophet Joseph Smith matches the spirit of Saint-Exupéry’s comment: “That same sociality which exists among us here will exist among us there, only it will be coupled with eternal glory, which glory we do not now enjoy” (D&C 130:2).  For Joseph, one of the things we can take with us to the next world is the “sociality” which we have here; our friendships, our families, and the love that we have with others can be had in the next world.  Those are the kind of things that “neither moth nor rust doth corrupt” (3 Nephi 13:20).  And those things constitute indeed the kind of wealth that money can’t buy.