November 20, 2002

I enjoyed reading the article called 'Attitude on Money.' I liked reading that money itself is not inherently good or bad. I want to someday have money. I want it to do good things. At this point in my life I don't think that I'm ready to have it. I think there are things I need to learn about managing it and prioritizing what I want to do with it. I think, that for me personally, I have needed to have this time of raising children without a lot of money. I think that I would have spoiled my children. Since we have always been financially very tight, we have had to consciously choose where we spend our earnings. We have had to be aware of our needs verses our wants and I think that has been a very good thing for our kids to see and learn. As my kids have grown up and started to have jobs, they have been able to buy things for themselves that are considered wants. Because they earn the money they can choose how they spend it, but it makes them value and care for what they have far more than they would have if it had just been handed to them. I am learning to handle my money carefully and I am learning that if I want to have money to do good things for others, that I need to be doing good things for others now. We won't suddenly be generous just because we're rich, we will be generous with our money later because we learned to be generous even in our times of financial struggle. As I have thought about the power money can have in a persons life, I have decided that I want to prepare myself spiritually and temporally before I seek to have an excess of funds. I want to have goals of how to earn and then wisely share what I will someday have.