The $50 Golden Rule

money

Moments after we arrived at the amusement park (Magic Mountain) yesterday, we found a wallet in the parking lot.

There was no question in our minds, we turned it in at lost-and-found.

(It only occurred to me as we were on our way home that if someone lost their wallet in the parking lot then they probably couldn’t pay for tickets to get in, so they couldn’t get to the lost and found to claim their lost wallet. Oh well.)

A little later, my son found $50 lying on the ground (two 20’s and a 10, all folded up tightly together, for those who were wondering). We then had a dilemma.

My immediate thought was to turn the $50 in at lost-and-found. Someone else in our group had a different opinion though – and it went something like this:

Who loses cash at an amusement park and expects that cash to be turned in at the lost-and-found? I mean, seriously, like anyone is going to do that!

So since a lot of people who find Β money wouldn’t turn it in, a lot of people who lose money wouldn’t go ask if it had been turned in. It would just be a waste of time.

The money would just sit there at the lost and found and would eventually probably just become the property of the park, adding to their bottom-line.

We really need the money so, since it’s highly unlikely to be collected at the lost-and-found, why don’t we just treat it as a gift from God and keep it? Maybe we could put it in the tithe box and let it go to feed the homeless?

I, unusually, was adamant though. I turned it in.

Why? Simply because it was the right thing to do. If I had lost that money, I would hope that the finder would turn it in… so surely I should do to others what I would have them do to me. Isn’t that in the bible?

It’s funny how the lines between what is right and wrong, our moral choices, become so blurry when the choice becomes about something of real value.

I know I often fail to make the right choice. Father help me keep your word in my heart and always do what is right no matter how hard it may be.