Today, even in tough economic times, most people have enough to meet day-to-day basic needs. Only the truly poor are not able to feed, clothe, and shelter themselves. Most of us are not facing starvation, lack of decent clothing, clean water, and housing for one’s self and family.

An example of selfishness was an American woman, Hetty Green, who was the wealthiest woman in American history. Hetty Green was born in 1834 in New Bedford. Her father made his riches in the whaling business. He made a habit of reading financial papers to Hetty when she was only six years old. By the time she was a young teenager, Hetty was helping the bookkeepers in her father’s business. Upon her father’s death, she inherited $7.5 million. Hetty Green developed superb habits of saving and financial investing. Her frugality became renown throughout her life to the bankers and brokers whom she saw on a daily basis.

At her twenty first birthday, Hetty Green removed the candles from the cake at the party. She decided it would be better to return the candles and get a refund of the money spent for them. She married at the age of 33 and became a mother of two children. It turned out that her husband accumulated bills which she paid off. She divorced him at this point.

We have idealized images of mothers and fathers sacrificing for their families. This was not something which Hetty Green did. When her son Ned was fourteen years old, he had an accident with his sled and needed medical attention. His mother’s first concern was cost of seeing a doctor so she tried to get him admitted to a hospital charity ward rather than try to see a doctor at a regular hospital. In the end, his leg had to be amputated.

Hetty Green’s daughter fared better. Her mother allowed her to marry one of her suitors once she realized his worth was approximately $2 million. The prospective groom met the requirements for having sufficient funds and would unlikely become a burden to Hetty Green.

During Green’s life, she moved to New Jersey so she could be closer to New York City’s financial center and the true passions of her life, making money and spending very little of it. She rented rooms for herself to live in. She did not use heat or hot water because they cost money. She wore the same dress until it was in tatters. When it was time to launder the one dress, she did own and wear, she only wanted the hem area to be washed. There were rumors that she ate oatmeal everyday for lunch. Hetty Green died in 1916 at the age of 82 and gave very little of her money to anyone.

The reverse of this is Sylvia Green, Hetty Green’s daughter. Her daughter died leaving an estate of $100 million. Sylvia Green donated about $98 million of her inheritance to 64 colleges, churches, and hospitals.

When God gives us so much, even when some of us think, it is too little, God expects us to be cheerful givers. Stinginess is a corruption of the soul and life which God has created for each and every one of us. Some of us give as little as possible because we believe that we need to keep as much as possible. In II Corinthians, we are told that God will give us "all sufficiency in all things." In fact, God gives us enough so that we may contribute to our church and to others. It is we who we think we do not have enough, not God.