White Elephant

White elephant. I am sure that every one of us has heard of this term to describe something that might cost alot of money but have little or no practical use at all.

I am not exactly sure how the term 'White Elephant' started to be used to describe things that have no practical use, fit only for viewing but costly in maintenance. However, I heard a story about the White Elephant and the Thai King, which might be one of the contributing factors to the modern usage of this term.

From the Thai history, we know that a White Elephant is a noble beast of special importance, exemplifying a king's honor and glory. Most significant of all, perhaps, is the white elephant, prized because it is a rare animal judged fit only for royal duties.

Such White Elephant once acquired by the Thai Royal Household, will be cared for as long as it lives and only perform royal duties for the King.

It was said that during the reign of one of the ancient Thai Kings, he was very upset by of the his high official. Instead of openly punish this high official, the King thought of a better way that will bring destruction in a more subtle way. What the King did was to ask this high official to retire early from his position and in recognition of the contribution of this high official, the King presented him with a few of the White Elephant from the King's Royal Household.

Initially, this particular high official felt so honored because the King not only recognised his contribution to the Kingdom but has also given him a few of the rare White Elephants. Yet as time went by, the now retired high official realised that the White Elephants given by the King are becoming a hugh burden to him. As the White Elephants are a gift from the King, he cannot sell them away or given them away. And he is not able to put these White Elephant to any work because they are only supposed to perform royal duties.

As the years went by, the fortune of this retired high official who had offended the King was completely wiped out because of the high cost of keeping these White Elephants alive. What started seemingly like a honored gift from the King is actually a curse.

Does that sounds like some of the things that we acquire today? What started like something that we need or honored to have eventually becomes a curse in our lives. It might be a bigger house that we thought that we needed. Or a bigger car. Or another vacation home. Or a boat, club memberships or even additional credit cards.

When we first acquired these things that we supposed we really 'need' them, there seems to have every legitimate reasons for our acquisition. And, some of these things even bring with it an honor or prestige like club membership, a boat or an additional vacation home.

However as time go by, we begin to discover that it cost us alot to maintain that these 'white elephant' in our lives. A bigger home that cause additional financial burden while it does not seems to really serve the purpose it supposed to do. The club membership or boat or extra car in the garage drains into our financial budget even when we are not using them at all. Not only these things begin to drain us financially, we start to find that we have to find time and effort to maintain them. What started like a thing of honor now becomes a burden and a bondage.

I remembered visiting the home of a friend many years ago. Its their new home and the entire apartment is laid with expensive marble flooring, which is not very common in Singapore more than 20 years ago. And during that visit, we are being constantly reminded that the marble flooring is VERY EXPENSIVE and easily cracked if something drops on it. My friend's parent keep reminding us not to drop our cups onto the floor so that we will not damage the marble tiles. We are also to be careful not to drip any juice onto the floor because it might discolored the tiles!

And I wondered what a bondage it is to live in such a house! What started as something that show the financial strength of this family quickly becomes a burden and a bondage!

In today's craze with bigger things, the latest things, and the extra things, I wonder how many of the stuff we begin to acquire are actually 'white elephant' that brings burden and bondage instead of blessing. I wondered if the time and energy needed to maintain these things in our lives are slowly taking away our focus on the Lord.

Maybe some of us might be thinking that you are not affected by the 'white elephant' of material things because we do not have a big house, or extra car or club membership etc. However, there might be the hidden 'white elephants' that are equally dangerous as the material 'white elephant'. What do I mean by the hidden 'white elephants'? It might be a promotion in your job. It might be a a certain group of friends that we are keeping. It might even be a ministry that we got involved in the church! Things that seems innocence at the beginning or even noble but eventually becomes a bondage and burden. These thing no longer bring us closer to God. Instead, we start to feel drain out and worn out and even burn out.

However, Jesus said that His burden is light and the life He give us is of abundance. If we invest into His kindgom, it will never become a white elephant. If what we have in our lives, including our career, ministry and relationship is from Him, they will never be a white elephants. Conversely, if any of these things in our lives are becoming like a white elephant i.e. needing lots of energy and time from us to maintain it but having little eternal benefits, we may have to consider sending these 'white elephants' away.

I pray that we will constantly be watching out for the white elephants that might enter into our lives. White elephants that might come in the form of material things or hidden thing like career or even ministry. And if we do already have some 'white elephants' in our lives, we might want to consider 'sending' them away so that our relationship with our Father will not be affected.