My wife received a text this morning, July 5th, from our neighbor across the street.  The text said not to worry, her boys would clean up all the fireworks’ mess in our driveway and on the street once they got up.  Sure enough, by the time I was headed out the door, there were the boys [including dad!], out in the street with brooms and dustpans, cleaning up the mess generated by the celebration of the night before. 

I felt a little guilty as I slowly drove past them.  I mean, I had sort-of enjoyed the “rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air” from the comfort and safety of my house last night – without paying one penny for the pleasure.  And now, here I was, not only letting them not only do all the sweaty clean-up work, but also letting them foot the bill for the show.  And what a show it had been!  My guess is that they blew through nearly $1000 worth of pyrotechnics in about five minutes last night.  For a non-professional, “home-grown”, neighborhood fireworks show, it was spectacular!  And loud!  To assuage my guilt-feelings, I waved to them as I drove by in my air-conditioned vehicle.        

I wonder if they wonder now whether it was worth it?  It would seem that on a strict cost/benefit analysis, there is no way that any fireworks show would ever get a “go ahead” from the “boss”.  I can just see the CEO of a Fortune 500 Company reviewing a suggestion that the Company put on a fireworks show for the city where it is headquartered: “Hmmm, let me think.  Massive costs, potential massive liabilities, no measureable results, and no measureable return on our investment.  Ok, that’s a “No” on the fireworks show.  And tell the guy who suggested it that he’s fired.”

And yet, every year, there are gigantic publicly funded fireworks shows all over this Nation on The 4th of July.  The costs of those shows have got to be staggering.  And that doesn’t even begin to include all of the private citizens who gladly spend lots of money each year for a few moments of explosive fun.  Apparently, nobody thinks in terms of cost/benefit when it comes to 4th of July fireworks.

Maybe; apparently – something else is happening in the minds and hearts of many when it comes to deciding whether or not to spend money on fireworks.  Maybe there is a “benefit”, at least in their minds, which goes beyond what can be measured accurately and displayed on a spread-sheet.  Maybe there is some strange connection between fireworks shows and patriotism.  Maybe, in some kind of mysterious, unexplainable way, there is, for lack of a better word, some sort of “spiritual benefit” that arises from witnessing explosions on The 4th of July that justifies the dollar costs of fireworks.   

Frankly, in a world in which results which are not measureable are given less and less weight, the idea that fireworks shows continue to happen is a wonderful, and even a comforting thing.  These shows might be thought of as a kind of rebellion from a soulless corporate culture which more and more looks only toward, and is only interested in, the bottom line.  In a way, maybe fireworks shows - including the little neighborhood “shows”, including even the kids with their sparklers and the teens with their bottle rockets – are a way of “speaking the truth to power”, a way of saying that it doesn’t always matter whether the results are measureable, because some results have real benefits and real value even though they cannot be measured, even when they are not reflected on the bottom line.    

And isn’t it great that fireworks shows are not the only things in which we ignore the usual cost/benefit analysis, and make decisions based on non-measureable results?  Reading a book, listening to music, playing with children, being with friends, worshiping God, just to name a few, are all examples where the benefits cannot be measured, and yet we know in our hearts and in our souls that we are making our best investments in these things.  “More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold.” – Psalm 19:10. 

May your portfolio of investments such as these grow each day.     

Ambrose Ramsey | Shepherd