Working > Wishing

Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth. He who gathers crops in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son.    Proverbs 10:4-5

I've heard teachings from the Bible that say WORK is a product of the fall of man.  That it is a direct result of Adam and Eve disobeying God's command to keep away from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  However, if we do a little reading (very little, it's in the 2nd chapter of Genesis), we see that "The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to WORK it and take care of it." Work was introduced as an essential human character trait even before God created Eve.

Work used to mean you get out and farm the land to feed your family.  Today, for most of us, work means you get out and farm the market to feed your family.  There are very few of us who are farming our own food anymore.  Sure some of you may have gardens for a few things, but the vast majority of our physical needs for food are purchased with money obtained from working.

Are there ways to survive without working...sure.  You could always sit around and collect any and all "Government money" you can.  (By the way, there is no such thing as "Government money".  That's my money and anyone else who gets out and works everyday.  The Government produces NOTHING).  However, I think by settling for a life of dependency on anyone else, you rob yourself of a trait that was built into us from the very beginning.

God is very clear in Proverbs 10:5 that we should be gathering crops in summer.  This translates to using our money (crops) for current needs as well as saving some of our money (crops) in preparation for winter.

Winter, to me, has three meanings:

• Emergencies - You NEED to have money for unexpected issues that will come up.  3-6 months of living expenses is a typical recommendation.

• Retirement - You MUST save money for retirement.  If you don't, who will.  Are you planning to live on social security and being a greeter at Walmart (do they even have those anymore) just to survive.  I want my retirement to be more enjoyable than that.

• Legacy - Do you REALLY want your family's memories of you, for the 6 months after your death, to be having to sell everything you had in order to pay for the mountain of debt you've obtained while you were here?  Wouldn't you rather leave your family with a plan and the money to carry out that plan?

Let's get back to the dignity and self respect that comes from working to provide for our families.  Let's stop wishing for riches to just fall into our laps via the lottery or just dumb luck.  Let's reignite a trait that was literally built into us from the beginning.  Let's work and harvest in the summer to prepare for our winter.