Money . . . its the agreed upon means of making transactions. For a certain amount I will work for a certain period of time. For a certain amount you will give me what I want from your inventory. Generally it is a great system, everything runs along just fine . . . people are busy day after day making many millions of such transactions for their own benefit or for their business or career.
But it is also a problem from time to time. What happens when something I want is entirely out of reach? I guess I have two options, I can wait and save and eventually be able to purchase such an item, or I can find someone (usually a bank) to loan me the money so I can have the item now with the condition that over time I will pay them back a certain interest rate for using the money in the first place.
I guess this is on my mind cause I am looking for a car this summer . . . something that will be solid enough to make it for a few years after I graduate, but at the same time something that will be cheap enough that I dont have to sign a loan. And its kinda rough to decide where that line is . . . which is more important? to have a long lasting set of wheels or being able to pay for it in cash? At the moment I am not sure, I need to find something that will fit my needs, but at the same time there are some things I would like to find in addition to them.
It hinges on contentment, would I be happy driving a vehicle that is a little smaller then I want . . . I should be. Would I be happy with less then ideal MPG’s . . . I should be. How about an uncomfortable seat? or lack of a radio? no CD? dings in the body? high milage?
Yes, some of them are important . . . I do need to be able to safely make it out to CA and around and then maybe back to NE . . . but at what cost?
Contentment is something I know I have a hard time with. There are so many things that I want or need, that in all reality I have no true need of. Instead those things will take my focus off of the most important things in front of me, I have at times I must confess spent very valuable time researching or looking up things that deep in my heart I know would never be applicable in the near future . . . just doing it to avoid whatever I had in front of me. Losing focus, I become discontent with what I actually already have and instead wish for something much more expensive or newer then what is sitting in front of me.
So while it seems like money is an issue . . . its really not. Its discontentment with what is right there that really makes something a problem. Discontent takes many forms and affects many many areas, not just the financial world is impacted by it.
God is working on it, looking back over a few months . . . I can see that I am learning. Its exciting to realize that things are changing, even if ever so slowly.