“Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth” Proverbs 10:4 NIV
If you want to avoid poverty, you have to work. I listened to an interview of Sam Elliott recently. He is one of my favorite actors, well known for his mustache and deep voice. He talked about how his career started. He moved to L.A. and took any job he could get in the movie industry. He found a low level job. He got a contract as a bit actor, doing whatever the studio wanted. Eventually his career took off. What he emphasized was the hard work that goes into being an actor. People don’t realize how hard they work because all they see is the finished product. Too often we idolize people, not realizing all they went through to get what they have. Everyone has to work, if they don’t, they’ll find themselves in poverty. Poverty is more than just money.
Poverty is more than just money.
Poverty can be relational. Relationships take work; they take intentionality. My husband and I have a great marriage. We work on our relationship everyday. On our honeymoon, we listened to a Biblically based series on marriage. On the drive home from that week, we made our first financial budget for the month. We do daily devotionals together that help us talk about difficult subjects. And when needed, we seek counseling to help us work through the tough stuff. We have a great marriage because we work hard at it. But if we didn’t work at it, we would be in poverty.
Relational poverty is worse than monetary poverty. Skin Hunger is the term used for people starving for physical touch. Some people never get hugged, they suffer from Skin Hunger. Studies have shown, small babies that aren’t held when born are affected at a molecular level. We need relationships in our lives. We are designed to have relationships and live in community. And we have to work at them if we want them to be good.
We have good relationships when we prioritize them in our lives. My relationship priorities: God, husband, family, friends. I want to be respected most by those who know me best. Therefore, I need to be intentional in those relationships. I have to prioritize my time so I have time to invest in those relationships. I try to love all people God places in my path, but I know I can’t be everything to everybody. That is God’s job, not mine. However, I can try to be a good wife to my husband, a good family member to my family, a good friend to my friends. When we work on our relationships, we’ll find more wealth than we ever imagined.
Question of the Day:
What relationship do you need to work on today?
Further Reading: Leviticus 6:1-7:27 NIV, Mark 3:7-30 NIV, Psalm 37:1-11 NIV, Proverbs 10:3-4 NIV
