Mary Poppins, Miracles & Compound Interest

I find it fascinating that many people do not believe in miracles. Either they cannot, or will not, believe. Allow me to give you an example. There is a miraculous tale that is literally thousands of years old. It is the story of a man who wandered the countryside sharing ways we might be more kind and gentle with each other. One day the man arrived at the home of a lady who was pretty destitute. She was a widow and had a young son to care for. It was a time when there was a terrible famine in the land. To make matters worse, she was flat broke. The kind old gentleman asked the lady what he might be able to do for her. Her response: "I have no food for me and my son." Turns out this gentleman had some pretty serious connections.  He asked the lady for a jar containing a little flour and a cruze holding a tiny amount of oil.  Then he said something mind blowing. This cruze of oil and this jar of flour will not run out till the rains finally come and the famine ends. And so it happened.  The flour and the oil were not exhausted even though they were constantly being used to make bread by this single mom for her and her child. "Yeah PastorFi, this is just nuts. That never happened. It is impossible! How is it that a college educated guy like yourself can believe in such fairy tales?" Before I try to answer this, my most skeptical friend, let me share with you something I learned from the rather entertaining 1964 film Mary Poppins

In one scene Mr Banks has his children Jane, the eldest, and John over to the bank where he works. [As an aside there are five Bank's children in the books].  In this scene the bank cronies are trying to relieve Michael of his tuppence (a coin/money) and to have him invest that tuppence with the bank, where his investment, "will compound." Michael flees the bank and opts to feed the birds.


Not only did I learn about Compound Interest from this movie, I was struck by the imperative. Your money WILL compound. As a young teen I understood that if I were to put some amount of money into some investment (I had no idea what that was), my money would grow! That seemed impossible. Most adults I spoke to about this concept assured me that there was indeed this thing - this wonderful thing, called compound interest. And, that YES, it would cause money to grow. This is in my mind a Modern Day Miracle. Think about it. Some material object - money, grows in such a way that it will never run out. In fact this phenomenon is the basis for the 4% Safe Withdrawal Rate (SWR) determined by the Trinity Study. As long as your money/retirement-fund is generating interest above your withdrawal rate plus inflation, your money will continue to grow. Yes it is math! It is also Miraculous. A little bank account is never exhausted despite the fact that you withdraw funds regularly. Question: if man-made modern banking practices and investment strategies can produce this effect, why is it so difficult to believe that an all-powerful Divine Being could not do likewise? I believe in miracles. I believe I am one. And so are you! Perhaps give that ancient account of Elijah and the Widow of Zarephath another read, and understanding compound interest, take a moment to meditate on miracles. Spend less than you earn and invest the rest. Observe this modern day miracle unfold in your life.

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