Week 11

§  I have never thought of money as being bad or evil.  It is necessary for us to have it to live healthy and happy lives.  We need it to buy food, clothes and shelter.  But we can also use it for many, many other things we might deem necessary or just because and that’s ok.

§  If you allow money to be the driving force behind every decision you make you are never going to be happy.  We also need to understand that money does not change how you think it just magnifies whatever your moral conscience already is.  Money can also control you if you do not take control of it.

Suggested rules for prosperity.

"Rule 1. Seek the Lord and have hope in him

Rule 2. Keep the commandments, that includes the temporal ones, tithing and fast offerings.

 Rule 3. Think about money and plan how you can become self-reliant.

 Rule 4. Take advantage of chances for learning so you will not be ignorant of these matters. Education, as President Hinckley has taught us, is the Key to Opportunity.

 Rule 5. Learn the laws upon which the blessings of wealth are predicated.

 Rule 6. Do not send away the naked, the hungry, the thirsty or the sick or those who are held captive."

I find it interesting that when we help others, think of others, show gratitude, and listen and learn, we are blessed with prosperity.  By giving away we gain not only in temporal but especially spiritually. What a great concept!

I know we need to be prosperous, but one person’s description of prosperity might be completely different from another’s. In the readings and video clips we are told by those who have had the experiences of what it takes to prosper, tell us to try harder to balance your life, that loosing family to succeed at all costs is not worth it. We must choose before we start what our guidelines and stopping points will be and then stick to it. We cannot allow the next deal or client to become more important than everything else in our lives. 

We also need to make sure we are managing our financial resources in a way that is pleasing to our Heavenly Father. We have a responsibility to be self-reliant so we make take care of ourselves but also to be in a position where we can help others if called upon to do so.  How can we help others if all we do is work because we are so caught up or so in debt we cannot stop to listen and respond to the promptings of the Holy Spirit?