A man worked brutally hard his entire life. He denied himself even the simplest pleasures, hoarding every single dollar and pinching pennies out of a deep, paralyzing fear of the future. Because having a massive safety net makes you feel secure, right? He told himself that eventually, he would finally enjoy a peaceful, wealthy life. Eventually. Later.
This man would buy physical gold bars and hide them away in a secret safe. Every now and then, he would open it up just to look at the gold and smile. It brought him a twisted sense of peace. One day, I’ll live like a king, he thought. One day—just not today.
But one day, thieves broke in and completely cleaned out his safe. The man wept bitterly, staring at the empty space where his fortune used to rest. A passing monk noticed his immense grief and asked him what was wrong.
The man sobbed and explained that all his gold bars had been stolen. Everything he had broken his back for, everything that gave him joy and hope... “Look!” he cried. “The safe is completely empty! They took everything!”
The monk nodded calmly and offered a piece of advice: “Do not despair. Go find a regular brick, wrap it in gold foil, put it in the safe, and convince yourself that it is pure gold. What’s the difference anyway? You never actually used the gold. You just looked at it. So keep looking at the brick—nothing has really changed.”
It’s a harsh reality check. But it’s the absolute truth. The things we don't use, the things we constantly hoard and put off for an undefined future, do absolutely nothing for us. When we hoard life, gold turns into nothing but heavy stone—and we can't take it with us when we die anyway. That’s exactly how that mythical "later" usually plays out.
You have to live right now. Stop putting your life on standby. The money we never spent, the youth we never actually lived—all of it can vanish in the blink of an eye. And above all, we must remember to live for a higher purpose, keeping faith in God.