Money

I've been thinking a lot about money lately. Not in a "I wish I had more" kind of way, but just in an analytical way. Money plays many different roles if my life. Sometimes I like the role it plays, sometimes I don't.

Working for a news station in sales and marketing means I hear a lot about money. It takes quite a bit of money to run such a place. Individually, I have monthly, quarterly, and yearly budgets set for me. The pressure of meeting budgets individually and as a team can be daunting at times. Although I know that the sun rises and falls according to the Lord's hand, sometimes it feels as though it rises and falls on a budget.

Getting married is expensive, and I don't just mean the cost of the wedding. The cost of two lives becoming one is very intriguing to me. Over the past weekend, Luke and I bought our wedding bands, purchased a new cell phone plan for the two of us, and updated a previously created budget that includes our incomes combined. We are both strong believers in financial management (which I'm grateful for!), but the cost of life is definitely teaching us new lessons we have not learned before.

Although money can be a stresser in life, it does seem do give me temporary joy. I say temporary because I believe that God is the only being that can give us consistent and complete joy. I love shopping for new shoes or work clothes. I'm loving my new iPhone and I'll be thrilled the day I get to pick up mine and Luke's new wedding bands. I can't wait to buy a new bikini for summer 2011 and it looks like I may be buying a new car in the next month or so (yay!!!).

Money plays so many roles. Businesses run on it, husbands and wives do their best to balance it, and it can be used to purchase fun new things. Sometimes money stresses me out and other times it relaxes me (i.e. a cup of Starbucks' Pike Place or a new song on iTunes). Either way, I cling to Matthew 6:24, which says,

No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Money may drive me crazy, but I serve the one true Master who has it all under control any way. I love the peace that this gives me. Oh silly money... :)