Upon opening my Bible App, this Labor Day morning, the Verses of the Day were Ecclesiastes 3:12-13. These were very fitting verses for today because they talked about nothing better for people than to be happy and do good. The verses go on to say that each person should eat, drink, and find satisfaction in their toil.

Photo by Carolyn V on Unsplash

As I pondered those verses, I reflected on the common reference to working as being anything other than finding satisfaction in doing it. Very often, work is looked upon as a drudgery that must be done to survive because the person’s apparent needs require them to work. Often this is because the job that they have is not doing what they would truly enjoy and have a passion to do. Looking back at all of the jobs that I’ve had, I realized that every one of them I did either to earn enough to pay my bills or had benefits to provide for my family. None of them was anything that I dreamed of doing or brought delight to my day. It has been said “if you find work you enjoy doing, you never really “work”.

Sadly, many people are like me and apply to a job, more out of desperation than desire. Like myself, many workers only focus on paying the bills and not doing work they enjoy. The thought of this, as I write on Labor Day, is disappointing. It’s disappointing that so many people are in this situation. Very often they’re in this situation because of poor guidance they received as a child. This is not an attack on anyone’s parents, guardians, or other caregivers because they too were probably not taught properly so they were unable to teach the children how to do things correctly.

One of the reasons for this is that financial education is not routinely taught in our schools, places of worship, or most anywhere else. Schools teach math and the bare-bone basics of managing money. It seems that advanced math courses have a higher level of importance placed on them than the management of money and family finances does. This leaves the conjecture to be that money management and family finances are something that should be taught by the child’s family. But, as I said before, most parents, guardians, and caregivers don’t have a firm grasp of how to properly handle this area themselves and therefore are ill-equipped to teach the children correctly.

So, since the children’s caregivers are unable to properly teach them because they too lack sufficient knowledge on the subject, how do the children learn? Unfortunately, they learn from watching and listening to their parent’s, advertisements, fictional programming on television and movies, listening to songs, reading fictional stories along with a host of other means. The problem with this form of learning is that it’s mostly inaccurate and, as with advertisements, has the objective to sell something usually by using credit to purchase it.

Generation after generation follow the same pattern and generation after generation continues to live unsatisfied lives because of being trapped into doing work that they don’t enjoy because they don’t know how to properly manage their money and finances. That fact saddens me as I write this on this Labor Day when I think how this day is to be a celebration of the American worker.

Since this is so common and many of us can relate to a bumper sticker I saw which read “I owe, I owe, it’s off to work I go”, the question becomes how can this cycle be changed and how can we find work that we enjoy doing? The answer is to learn new and correct ways to handle your money and manage your finances. However, caution needs to be exercised when seeking information on this matter. There are scores of offers online and in other areas which promise you the road to financial freedom. To reach the paradise they promise, all you have to do is buy or enroll in their “proven” plan. Many of these programs even tell you how rich you can become from following their methods. Unfortunately, the majority of them won’t make you rich or financially wise, they only make the promoter of the program that way.

Then, how do you learn the proper methods of handling your money and finances so that you can do work you enjoy? The answer is in The Scriptures, books, courses, and other media based on the scriptures. The Bible mentions money and possessions more than 800 times. Dave Ramsey and Larry Burkett have both written several books on proper financial management as outlined in The Scriptures. A very popular course, that tremendously helped me change my behavior around money and finances is Financial Peace University (often referred to as FPU). This course was put together by Dave Ramsey nearly 25 years ago after he went bankrupt and turned to the Bible to learn how to handle money and finances according to God’s ways. Dave often refers to the lessons from FPU and the related book “The Total Money Makeover” as being God’s and grandma’s ways of handling money.

Both Dave’s and Larry’s books and classes offer similar guidance and teachings on money management. Either is a good resource for everyone to read and/or take so they can learn how to manage their finances and have the opportunity to do the work they enjoy, live the lives they desire, and give/help others as God places upon their hearts.

Should any of you look back to how you felt this past Labor Day and realize that the job you have isn’t the one you would enjoy doing or you’re tired of being the “rat” in the wheel of working just to stay ahead, I’m hosting a virtual Financial Peace University class beginning September 20, 2020. You can enroll in the course by going to fpu.com/1119957. Ramsey Solutions is currently offering a 14-day Free Trial to allow you to enjoy the benefits of learning a new way to handle your money along many other things centered around your finances.

I hope today’s blog was encouraging to you and provided information to help you and others better handle their financial matters. My purpose through these blogs is to inform the reader about money and financial issues so that we all can become better managers of our assets. If you like what you read, make sure to sign up so you can receive my weekly posts. The goal of Take Two Financial Coaching is to provide the necessary information to help families and individuals break the chains of debt, build lasting wealth, and become outrageously generous.

For those who are tired of being in the rat race or just want to better manage what they earn, I am available to have a Free 60 Minute Conversation to discuss your situation and how I can help you change it. Go to my calendar at https://ramseycoach.com/taketwofinancialcoaching to arrange a time that works for you. You can also email me at taketwofinancialcoaching@gmail.