In the sixth century BC lived Croesus, king of Lydia, the richest man in the world. He governed with wisdom and arrogance.

In the splendor of his glory, certain time, he received in his palace, one of the seven wise men of Greece. Perhaps, the greatest of all: Solon.

To honor him properly and to demonstrate all his power and wealth, the king ordered to prepare a splendid banquet.

Then he invited him to visit the many rooms of his treasures: pearls, emeralds, diamonds of all carats, rubies, gold statues.

Strangely, Croesus noticed that his guest was wandering among that    immense wealth, with total indifference.

And, in the face of the real assertion, who claimed to be the happiest man in the world for being the richest, the Greek sage pronounced: My king, no one can ever be considered happy before going through the test of time.

It is the time that is in charge to say if we were or we were not happy. After all, it always surprises us with the unexpected.

Life is a succession of events that completely change our destinies.

And he added: Do not forget that happiness is above all that one has.

Croesus did not give much importance to the advice he had received, and he sought to increase his wealth and power even more.

After some time, however, Cyrus, king of the Persians, marched with his army against Lydia.

And the king watched, terrified, the enemy troops entering the palace, killing his best soldiers.

Trapped with his family, he was driven in irons through the capital, now in rubble. Humiliated, he was taken to the central square, tied to a pole, on pieces of wood.

He would be burned alive. When he saw the archer approaching with the torch to set the wood on fire, he remembered, as in a flash, the Solon's sentence: No one in the world is happy unless it goes through the test of time.

Yes, time had brought him many sorrows: his dead son, in a hunting accident, at the age of eighteen. His beloved son, the heir to the throne.

Time had also cheered him with the deafness and muteness of his youngest son.

Finally, now, was him, his wife, his son, his court, all defeated, humiliated.

What was left of his wealth, which had been savagely sacked by the conquerors?

What had been made of his palace, burned by the destroying sound of the victors?

At that moment, he understood that happiness is not having, happiness is something more.

The possessions, from one moment to another, may be taken away by robbers or carried away by the fury of nature.

The things of the world are ephemeral. Now we are smiling, soon we may be immersed in the sea of ??tears because an accident robbed our mobility or a loved one.

Or because nature yelled, rebellious, and destroyed our heritage. Or a terrible disease embraced us and robbed the energies of our youth, the smile of joy.

So, happy is not the one who has. Happy is the one who loves because love sings a spring in the heart.

Naturally we need some money, some possessions, because deprived of everything, we become unbalanced.

However, it takes the wisdom to know to be possessor and not possessed. To be the owners of the money, never the money of us.

This is a wise posture and that gives us tranquility, harmony in living, in the course of time.

Let us think about it and invest in conquering peace and being happy.

 Spiritist Moment Team, based on Conference
by Divaldo Pereira Franco, given in Porto Alegre on
November 7, 2004, on the occasion of the 50th edition
of the Book Fair.
February 21,2019.