You are most likely about to enter or have just entered the Job world, and it is easy to jump in and start swimming upstream with all of the rest of the fish.
First looking to do well so that you can provide for a new family, then looking to move up the stream a little further so that you can provide for the new bundle of joy that is on the way, yet again a little farther upstream to start putting away for college and pretty soon you find yourself at the end of the stream, with nothing more than “things” accumulated.
You will likely look back at your life and say “I should have, I could have, I would have…”.
Before you enter the job world, let me share a few things that I have learned along the way!
1. Work will always be there! There will always be one more account to close, one more thing to fix, one more customer to make happy! We spend on average 8 hours a day at work, and only 4 to 5 waking hours with our friends and family, it is easy to allow our priorities to get turned around. If you think about where you are right now, trying to make a decisions to climb the corporate ladder, there is someone on the next rung above you that is just a little farther down the road, trying to provide for his or family but now he has “the new guy” on his tail which is pushing him harder to keep up the game, pushing him to make sacrifices in his personal life to stay one step ahead of the rookie, or get sidelined. If you allow yourself to fall into that trap, it is a vicious cycle that seems never ending! There will always be someone behind you to take up the slack! Work Hard, but don’t work so hard you sacrifice your relationships!
2. Proper Perspective per Priorities! We as men are trained from a young age to be hard workers, good providers, above all else! While I do think that we need to work hard, (2 Thess. 3:10), and provide for our family (1 Tim 5:8) we need to have all of our life in perspective.
1) It is important that above all that God & Your Relationship with Him is at the top of your priority list, make sure you have time for Daily Bible Reading & Daily Prayer,
2) Relationship with your spouse! Your wife must be only second to your Creator. There should be nothing on this planet that can supersede your time and relationship with your mate! The Bible talks about the two (you and her) becoming one, how can you do anything apart from yourself.
3) After your spouse is your children and finally
4) Your career and all the other things of life!
3. Who will be by your side on your last days? At the end of our life, it will not be our boss, or our co-workers at our bedside, it will be the ones we love, our Spouse, our Children!
Take sometime today to commit to Christ to make him the priority in your life, work for him all your days and he will always provide for you! (Psalm 37:25)