What I read yesterday as I wrote a post on the Prophet Habakkuk:
Has not the Lord Almighty determined
that the people’s labor is only fuel for the fire,
that the nations exhaust themselves for nothing?
14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea. Hab 2 13-14
that the people’s labor is only fuel for the fire,
that the nations exhaust themselves for nothing?
14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea. Hab 2 13-14
What I thought yesterday:
Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.” John 6:27
Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and you will delight in the richest of fare.Isaiah 55: 2
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and you will delight in the richest of fare.Isaiah 55: 2
What I am reading today: Slow by Carl Honore.
* * *
My husband and I own a small publishing company which provides our family enough to live on!
But, you know, there is a mortgage, and we have two children. And so we keep wondering if we should expand our business. The law of empires—expand or contract—is the same for businesses: expand your market share, or lose it and contract. So, against our better judgement, we have in fact been slowly expanding the company, in the last 3.5 years since we realised that we had enough to be happy.
We have now caught up with much of our backlog of procrastinated chores built up over a couple of decades of privileging work, and procrastinating everything else. So we were wondering if Roy should throw himself into expanding our business.
* * *
I am reading Gretchen Rubin’s Happiness Project. So thinking about what will make me happier has now begun to enter the equation.
Money can increase happiness up to a point, because it can help you cope with some of life’s problems, so that you are less sad and stressed. However, after your income reached a certain level, more money will not make you happier, according to Nobel prize winning economists Deaton and Kahneman at Princeton.
For me, because I don’t have any particular material thing I’m hankering for, a 10% or even a 50 % percent increase in income will not probably not make me particularly happier, I realized.
What will make me happier is
* To be able to keep up with my 1.5 acre garden, which I am afraid is looking rather shaggy and unkempt with all the rain we’ve had.
* To be have a tidy, organized and decluttered house.
* To eat healthy, body-blessing “Slow Food,” homecooked meals, homemade bread, and homemade stuff like Roy’s delicious salad dressings and dips!
* To exercise everyday.
* To have more time to read.
* More time to write.
* * *
So yet again, we are again putting off the decision to expand the business so as to spend more time in the garden, and kitchen, and in creating domestic order and serenity!!
You know, I think it makes sense. Time spent making extra money is not as well spent as “free time” spent on things which bring you bliss.
I like how Rick Warren puts it,
People are realizing that time is more important than money. Money is a renewable resource – there are always ways to get more of it. But time is a limited resource.
You only have a certain allotment of time in your life. When it’s used up…that’s it! YOUR TIME IS YOUR LIFE. When you give someone your money, you’ve given them something that you can replace. But when you give someone your time, you’ve given them a part of your life. This means “time management” is really “life management.”
A question to consider as you work this week: “How much of what I’m doing right now is going to count ten years from now…50 years from now.. or for eternity?”
You have just enough time to fulfill God’s purpose for your life. If you “can’t get it all done” it means (1) You’re doing things God never intended for you to do, or (2) You’re doing the right thing in the wrong way.
* * *
Time is always more precious than money, because money spent can be earned again, and money earned can be used to buy time (by farming out whatever work can be farmed out, cleaning, housekeeping chores, gardening, business admin.) Time, however, is an irreplaceable, non-renewable resource.
As Michael Hyatt wrote recently: Your time is a zero sum game. You must say no to good things—worthy things—in order to say yes to your most important priorities.
* * *
To celebrate life together, to be together in community, to simply enjoy the beauty of creation, the love of people, and the goodness of God—these seem faraway ideals. There seem to be a mountain of obstacles preventing people from being where their hearts want to be. It is so painful to watch and experience. The astonishing thing is that the battle for survival has become so “normal” that few people really believe it can be different.” Henri Nouwen, Seeds of Hope
So for a season, a few months, or years, or the rest of the my life, I am going to say No to working additional hours for more money in exchange for more happiness—happiness in my garden, in an orderly house, with more time to read, to write, to exercise, to pray, to read Scripture, to eat slow, home-cooked food, and to cook for and eat with friends and family!!
Read my new memoir: Rosaries, Reading, Secrets: A Catholic Childhood in India (US) or UK.
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My book of essays: Wandering Between Two Worlds (US) or UK
Anita Mathias says
Absolutely, Greenpatches and Miss Mollie!! It is a mysterious why we are time-starved in the West, as we are living in the most affluent society in the history of mankind, and have so many labour-saving devices. Is it greed? Is hurry an addiction, an addiction caused by the adrenalin it generates?
Harriet, that's great about cutting your working hours. You will so enjoy the extra leisure. Of course, new things will come to fill it so you will sometimes feel busy–but hopefully, not as much as before.
Roy retired early, and we do enjoy the additional time, and reduced stress. Sometimes, of course, irrationally, we feel busy–that's what adrenalin does to us, and then have to rationally tell ourselves that we are not really busy: It's our old rushed selves speaking.
Molly, using the same themes is not copying at all. So many of my blog posts bounce off other people's posts and preoccupations!
Harriet says
Yet again your timing is so reassuring for me! Your list for ensuring happiness could be my list. I have finally cut my working hours for next term – and had a wonderful sense of release. If only I had the courage to move on altogether. Thanks for another thought provoking blog.
Miss Mollie says
I really wasn't copying in my post today. It went with my summer stories theme, I had been thinking of it for awhile. I think they complement each other. I'll throw a link to you again.
Greenpatches says
He certainly did! A wise decision. I worry sometimes about just how time-starved a society we seem to be becoming. To have time, and to be aware enough to use it wisely, as you're realising, is a true gift. Hope I don't sound preachy here; I'm thinking the issue through as I write!
Miss Mollie says
Upside down living. I think Jesus taught about that. (smile)