Pretty much everyone feels their lives would be better if they only had just a little more money. But then we get a little more money, like a raise, and our lives are better for a spell then they go back to where they were… and we go back to thinking our lives would be better if we only had a little more money.
When we do have an increase in income, usually we clutter our lives with more stuff or services. We put ourselves in a position where we’re now attached to a number of other people for this or that. I think this is where the “More money, more problems” phrase comes from. In addition, if you own your own business with employees, problems compound.
But, let’s face it, most of us would love the problem of trying to figure out where to invest our mounds of cash. (I say that tongue-in-cheek.) Having no money is a problem. There’s no escape from having no money, no way to hold off on decisions and “sleep on it.” When we don’t have the money to pay the electric bill, the electric company turns cuts us off. Sure it’s nice and dark but we can’t sleep for worry of how to get the service back on when it takes money to to that… the same money we didn’t have to keep the lights on in the first place.
Not all poverty is self-imposed. There are situations where good people find themselves struggling with finances. And struggles with finances lead to struggles with marriage and children and even with our own confidence.
But there’s a silver lining. If we are, in fact good, we can count on others to help us out. If we have helped others out in the past, it’s likely they’ll come through for us in a crunch. It’s actually a good thing to be broke and have to depend on others because, only then, do we know who our real friends are. And those friends may not even have money of their own but they’ll spend time with us or give us the shirt off their own back.
So those big problems that come from a small bank balance can be a blessing. I believe most blessings aren’t monetary (regardless of what the televangelists tell us). Blessed are the poor indeed.
