We are hearing from lots of people these days at my church because of our financial stewardship campaign.  The new fiscal year begins July 1 and we are in the process of preparing a budget and ministry plans for the new church year.  Money is a difficult topic to talk about at my church – much more difficult than time and talents or the need to observe the balance between the being and the doing of our lives.  Through the process of this financial stewardship campaign, I have been thinking about my own journey with money.

I grew up in a family that did not have a lot of money, but we had enough.  My parents blessed me by making it possible for me to enter life as an adult with a good education and not encumbered with much debt.  As an adult, I have been able to do work that I find meaningful and challenging, and I have been paid to do that work.  I feel very blessed.

My wife Kathy and I made the decision to tithe (10%) our income from the very beginning of our marriage.  We have found that it is easier to stay with a good habit rather than starting one once family expenditures start to grow.  So, we have been able to continue the habit of tithing to church and have felt very blessed by it.

Many of you know that, in my late twenties, my mother died in an automobile accident.  One of the results of her death was that I inherited some money with which Kathy and I bought our first house.  There have been a couple of other inheritances on both sides of our family over the years that have helped offset medical and other significant expenses and have also made it possible for us to find a measure of long-term financial security.

This has been an interesting process.  It feels very good to receive money from a relative or loved one through inheritance.  The money itself is very helpful and there is joy in receiving a gift from someone you have known and loved.  Curiously, though, when I have received such a gift, the sense of joy is soon overwhelmed with the sense of worry.  I have felt a responsibility to spend it intelligently, invest it wisely, and use it to help others generously.  Before I knew it, I was worrying about the money not being enough even while knowing it made no sense to feel that way!  That is something of the “scarcity mentality” I talk a lot about.  I know it from first-hand experience.

I have also experienced a parallel process.  Moving well into middle age -- with two children, college expenses, and a smaller family income than we had ten years ago – I have at times felt a little sense of panic about that the long-term financial security.  There is certainly less money in the bank than there used to be.  There is also less equity in the house and more debt in the household than before.  At the same time, there is a sense of incredible blessing I feel when I think about the road my family has traveled. 

The anxiety is more than offset by a growing attitude that I am living the life I want to live and becoming the person I want to be.  I am discovering a sense of abundance within myself, a sense that I am a unique individual and share a partnership with God in the creating of my life.  My family and congregation have affirmed me in that process of growth.  I am blessed with the richness of love and relationship.  The decisions I am making now, including financial ones, are choices based not on fear (mostly), but on what I really want to do – what I feel the Spirit leading me to do. 

Thanks for continuing to bless me on the journey.

--Jack Price

Return to the Enotes index