While dialing the numbers to retrieve the update on my 401K, I noticed I was biting my lip.  I was not exactly sure that I wanted to hear the newest accounting from the other end, but as we all know, curiosity killed the cat, and it usually gets the best of this kitten. Thus the painful call that would soon leave me tolling that particular account’s financial death nell.

When the electronic voice cheerily chirped my latest losses, I squinted my eyes and gritted my teeth.  Even though I knew the reality of what was coming, inevitably I found that I was unrealistically hoping for a better result.

It’s sort of like the way we get when we watch a production of Romeo and Juliet or West Side Story.  Certainly, we know, that if we watch it one more time, this time, just maybe, our star-crossed lovers won’t die, but will all live happily ever after.

But alas. Nary tis it so.

And so goes the demise of my retirement fund.  Which I now wonder if I will ever have the luxury of even dipping into once I retire. Ah, life.

Life is a bit like the current stock market.  We keep thinking it will end up all right in the end if we just ride it out and hope for the best.  Interestingly, we spend a lot of time and energy when it comes to our investments here on this earth. Ironically, the risks we take in regards to the what-comes-after-this-life often times pale in comparison to the studies, and research and monitoring that we commit to our current portfolios.

There is one thing we can be sure of.  No matter how much we invest, when it comes to our eternal lives, there is a path that we have chosen. Inadvertently or not.  And any path, always leads to somewhere.

It’s not surprising that people focus on planning and caring for their current investments. But in case you were not aware, there are folks out there that truly live their lives investing in the life yet to come.

Like the Romeo and Juliet scenario, we can pretend all we want that this time the story will end the way we want, but inevitably, what is written will be

The Bible is very clear about the fact that our lives here are but a shadow in comparison to what comes after. It talks about heaven and hell and the paths that lead to both. And it encourages us to invest in the “then” more than our “now”. It’s a sobering truth, but one that we can’t just ignore or wish away.

Nope. The reality of mortality, and the anticipation of things to come are what we might want to take a good look at and invest stock in this year. In my opinion, that’s the best investment for 2009 that you and I could realistically make.

Speaking as a mere mortal, of course,

S.