Knowing When Enough Is Enough – March 05, 2000
When we’re young, we think about how much better life will be when we have more money. When we’re older and have more money, we look back and remember the happy times when we had so little. Almost everywhere we turn, money seems to be a focal point. Game shows and lotteries hold out the succulent carrot of being rich. It becomes the dream of many—too often at a very high cost.
Most of us are familiar with the phrase “Money is the root of all evil.” Money has its rightful place—we need it to pay for the necessities of life. It’s not money that’s the root of evil, but rather the love of money. To spend life in constant pursuit of making more and more can become an obsession. The goal to be wealthy can take over a person’s life. Henry Fielding observed, “Make money your god, [and] it will plague you like the devil.”1 When it becomes our driving force, it’s then that we lose sight of what really matters.
A man took a serious look at his life and determined that it had become out of balance. Climbing the financial ladder of success was eating up the precious days, weeks, and years of his young family’s life. He realized that too soon his children would be grown and gone, and that his relationship with his wife was gradually diminishing into the shadow of his corporate career. He made the difficult decision to step down a rung on the latter of success and give himself more time with his family. Ancient Chinese wisdom says, “He who knows he has enough is rich.”2
A woman who had worked hard to achieve the position of CEO of a company, spending nearly every waking hour on the job, came to the realization that enough is enough. She and her husband reevaluated their life goals and what they wanted to do with their time. She decided to quit work, and he to cut back on his hours. They now have time to enjoy each other and their children, and also have time to serve in their church and community. It’s no longer important for them to drive new fancy cars nor have a big, elaborate home. They have genuine joy in their life. Money has now taken its place as their friend instead of their enemy.
Program #3681
1. Henry Fielding, The New Dictionary of Thoughts (Standard Book Co., 1961), 420.
2. Tao Te Ching, as quoted in Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin, Your Money or Your Life (New York; Penguin Books, 1993), 144.