When I Win The Lottery

I'm a sensible woman. I know the odds are against winning the lottery. It's why I simply don't play. Well, I don't play very often. But I started reading the book The Secret and I'm changing my thought process. It may sound like I'm an Ohio Lottery commercial but the fact is... somebody has to win; why not me? If I practice the law of attraction, as The Secret explains, thinking the right thoughts...or the wrong thoughts...can bring those things your way. If you think poor you'll be poor. If you think rich, you'll be rich. In fact, the book suggests, don't just think it...act it. Act "as if".

So when I win the lottery, here's what I'm going to do. First, I'll take care of my immediate family. I'll pay off my house and any additional debt, put away money for my daughters' education and future, and put a significant chunk into safe investments, enough to live as I do now during my retirement. Okay well maybe a little bit nicer than now--but for the most part, I am pretty happy so my current lifestyle, plus some travel and a few extras, will certainly suffice :-).

Secondly, I will pay off each one of my siblings' most significant debt, and buy them each something they always wanted.


My mom and her lucky 7


Next, I will take care of my best friend, so she'll never, ever have to fight that deadbeat ex-husband of hers for another child support payment.

Finally I will fund the trust set up in my husband's name. The Cordle Foundation will not only award scholarships to needy students who show a love and aptitude for music (as his current modestly funded one does), but it will go beyond scholarships. The Cordle Foundation will contribute to worthy organizations, both locally and nationally, that are taking care of those less fortunate. I have a heart for animals, so various rescue organizations will be recipients of a Cordle contribution.

The question that every lottery winner always gets asked is: "will you quit working?" And my answer will be "no". I may take a hiatus, or focus time on the Cordle Foundation and my freelance voice work, but I will not stop working. Because work is definitely good for heart, the soul and it keeps me young.

There is often a dark side you hear about when someone wins a lot of money. That they are changed, they blow it all, they lose friends, they make new friends, that usually aren't friends. Money can be the root of all evil. I have a strong faith in Jesus and I believe what he told us in the Bible. I have always struggled to understand the verse where Jesus tells the rich man "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God." (Mark 10:23)But the Book of Timothy (6:17-19 )says "Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life."

I believe that it's not that God doesn't want us to be rich, it's that we are called to use our wealth for the good of others. There will always be the very rich and the very poor, and most of us are somewhere in-between. But I promise that when I win the lottery, I won't be the only winner!