The Gospel reading for today’s first Sunday of Advent is our seasonal realignment to get our priorities right; warning against the addictive nature of worldly wealth and what true riches actually are. Today’s parable is the story of a man who amassed greater and greater wealth, only to have has life taken away before he could enjoy it.  Jesus’ masterful storytelling influenced another master some 1800 years later.  Leo Tolstoy wrote a little known version of this parable, which I want to share because I think it helps bring Jesus’ eternal wisdom to life even more poignantly for us today. Tolstoy’s story is titled ‘How Much Land Does a Man Need?’