4/17/2006

Advice from Nashville's leading Financial Aid Advisor Dave Ramsey

 
Dave Says
By Dave Ramsey
Author of:
Financial Peace and
The Total Money Makeover

"How to balance success without being obsessive?"

Dear Dave,

I work hard to provide for my family, and think I’ve done a pretty good job in this area. I’ve made enough to take care of my wife and kids if I should die, and we have a nice lifestyle. But I was reading the Bible the other day, and now I’m wondering if all this - along with retirement concerns - can put as person in a situation where they’re unknowingly being choked by the cares of life. Am I being obsessive and how can I tell when enough is enough?

Steve via email

Dear Steve,

This is an excellent question. How do you balance success without it becoming an obsession? I think the fact that you’d ask this question shows how committed you are to maintaining that balance in your life. 

Many of us wonder and worry about balancing the needs and wants of this world with an eternal viewpoint. I had the longing for stuff beaten out of me many years ago when I went broke. Since that time, I’ve learned that it’s more important to BE than to HAVE, although much of the world will try to convince you that to must HAVE in order to BE.

Honestly, Steve, I don’t have a lot of pretense about all the good things that have happened to me and my family since that time. It’s not because we’re better or smarter or any of that stuff. We’re just doing common sense stuff and working really hard. But maybe the biggest thing is the realization that stuff we have isn’t really ours – it belongs to God. I’m just a manager that God has hired to take care of this particular pile of stuff.

Remember, too, that God loves his kids and He wants us to have good things. I’ve come to believe that if you can emotionally and spiritually release the whole concept of ownership, that God will bless you and maybe even give you more stuff to manage. 

- Dave

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