Money Management

By Harold J. Sala
Excerpts from "Money Management"

MONEY MANAGEMENT

Gather couples from anywhere in the world and ask them what
is the most troubled area of their marriage. Alongside
"communication," you will probably find money mentioned with amazing
frequency. The problem isn't inflation, it isn't how much or how
little you have. It is who does what with what you have.

How you spend your money tells a great deal about you and
your values -- what you consider to be important. Tell me how you
spend your money, and I will tell you what you really value in life.
Without even thinking about it, you are writing a family history week
by week. "No, not me!" you may be thinking, "I'm not writing
anything." But you are, in the stubs of your checkbook.

Money is amoral --- neither good or evil in itself. When
money is a problem in a marriage or a family, I've discovered that the
financial problems are usually just the tip of the iceberg. Hidden
beneath the surface usually lies the iceberg of selfishness. Marriage
demands commitment, and apart from sexual fidelity, nothing is more
important than maintaining commitment to each other when it comes to
what we do with our money.

Love is a commitment, a decision to care regardless of the
temperature of the heart, and that commitment includes our funds. For
a marriage to work, there has to be a blending of two lives where each
begins to live for the other. You cease thinking of "my money" and
"her money," it's "our money." There may be times when separate bank
accounts are necessary, but the separation of what you have into two
piles is usually a sign of the separation which has already began in
your hearts.

Long ago Amos asked the question, "Do two walk together
unless they have agreed to do so?" (Amos 3:3). The obvious answer is
"NO!" In marriage, money usually implies control. It's the golden
rule, "He who has the gold, rules." But in marriages that really work,
there may be a shortage of money but never the conflict of two
battling over who is going to spend it for what. The better way is
each for the other and both for the Lord.

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From: jgat777@globelines.com.ph