I heard a very good spiritual commentary the other day. While this was focused on these resources from a scriptural standpoint, as I listened I realized that this is a valuable view of our lives expendable resources regardless of your religious viewpoint.<\/p>\n
These are, at their root, our only available resources and they all spend very quickly and easily.<\/p>\n
Each is both an investment and expense account. We put in and we must take out.<\/p>\n
Each we can easily squander or utilize to great gain.<\/p>\n
But it lead me to assess how I use each;<\/p>\n
Talent
\nI see myself as a pretty talented guy. I have had a very good and prosperous professional life. Vocationally, I enjoy utilizing my writing talents on a regular basis and I try to employ what I have learned as a Chaplain where ever and when ever I can.<\/p>\n
However, it is easy for me to get lazy with my talents. To get comfortable in their use and not focus on growing or improving them. They become a source of knowledge to draw upon but not something I am necessarily doing a good job in fostering the improvement of.<\/p>\n
I am busy, and this does not lend itself to taking the time to grow my talents. Furthermore, I read a lot and I utilize my skills daily. Much like a muscle I use my talents and do not let them get stale. But I realized that I while I am maintaining them, they are not necessarily gaining strength. And much like a muscle, simple use is not enough. I must stretch them to keep them limber, employ them to keep them strong and feed them to keep them growing.<\/p>\n
I need to focus more on improving my talents.<\/p>\n
Time
\nSomething that we never have enough of, right! I am no different. Hours run through my hands like the sands of time (which they are), and I look back over my day and see that I have not accomplished all I wanted.<\/p>\n
Too, if I am honest, I do not necessarily utilize my time like the very expendable resource it is. I allow it to get used up without so much as a second glance. Not recognizing that each moment I waste is a moment I have lost on a calendar that has an ultimate end date. I am past the half way point I suspect at this time (don’t think I want to see 110 necessarily). Each tick of the clock is not a moment more but, now, a moment less I have to spend.<\/p>\n
I cannot invest in this account to extend it. The day is set. I am just working, as best I can, toward it.
\nNow this is not a fatalistic viewpoint. Not at all. I do not fear the end. I may fear the process, but not the outcome nor the aftermath. That too is set.<\/p>\n
No, at this point, it is how I am investing what is left that counts.<\/p>\n
I need to invest my time wisely.<\/p>\n
Treasure
\nMoney has always been a means to an end for me. I have said before I have never been one to watch balances as I should. I am not a good investor. I have people who do that for me and they should. If I am honest I don’t do it because I know I suck at it.<\/p>\n
Thus, I am not nearly where I wish I was at this point in life. I should have a far bigger nest egg. I should have focused more energy on keeping what I had and spending less. If I had I would have had far more options at this point in my life than I currently do.<\/p>\n
Now, do I worry about this. No. Not really if I am honest. Yes, I could be destitute tomorrow, but I am am at heart a country boy. And like the song says, \u201cA country boy will survive.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, this does make me wish I had planned and executed better. It is not that I have not made provision or been diligent with my treasures. But I could have done much better.<\/p>\n
When you don’t grow up with a lot, and you find yourself making a good salary, it is easy to afford yourself the luxuries of life.<\/p>\n
I do not lament this much, but it does weigh upon me at times. Probably more because I would like to be in a financial position to have, as I said, more options in life. More discretionary funds to travel or make big life decisions without concern.<\/p>\n
I must be more diligent with my treasure.<\/p>\n
These are our expendable resources. Ask yourself how you are spending yours\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I heard a very good spiritual commentary the other day. While this was focused on these resources from a scriptural standpoint, as I listened I realized that this is a valuable view of our lives expendable resources regardless of your religious viewpoint. These are, at their root, our only available resources and they all spend […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":404,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-improvement"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xplorechrist.com\/norightgear\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xplorechrist.com\/norightgear\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xplorechrist.com\/norightgear\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xplorechrist.com\/norightgear\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xplorechrist.com\/norightgear\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xplorechrist.com\/norightgear\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xplorechrist.com\/norightgear\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xplorechrist.com\/norightgear\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xplorechrist.com\/norightgear\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xplorechrist.com\/norightgear\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}