My son likes animals and insects. Among his favorites are horses, elephants, spiders and lizards. Such a wide selection. Whenever we are in a mall, he never misses riding the merry-go-round. He would hug the horse like a long lost friend. Every time we get home from work, the first thing my wife and I do is to play with him. My wife is great at telling stories. Me, I just wrestle the young boy.
Watching my son play reminds me how simple life should be. Advertising everywhere, they all bombard us of things that make our minds think we need those things. It is great to dream big. It is not a sin to buy expensive toys. I have big dreams. I do sometimes buy expensive things. But I believe what we need to ask is, does it contribute to our joy or remove us from what we value most?
After I got married to the woman of my dreams, I knew I have to spend more time with her. I’ve identified my treasure and there is no way I am going to let it go. As a CPA and an IT Professional, I knew I could get a high paying job abroad. But that never became an option for me because that would mean spending less time with my treasure.
After identifying my treasure, I have to be with my treasure because I know that is where happiness is. To be happy – isn’t it that is what we all strive for?
I believe there are two trails – the money trail and the relationship trail. As the head of the family, I know that providing for your family is important. That’s why a lot of parents follow immediately the money trail. They follow it religiously, then they follow and follow until they find themselves too deep into the trail that they cannot turn back and repair a broken relationship trail. To prove a point, how many OFWs have said that they would choose to be with their family than to work abroad?
“Money is important, but it is not everything.” – from the book Raising Heirs by Eleanore Lee Teo
Many people don’t do Cost Benefit Analysis in choosing a career. We normally just see the dollar that we are going to earn, not the time that will be taken away from own family. If it is just a few months, probably that’s ok. But if it means missing a good number of years away from your family, you may want to think about it.
What good does it do if you have all the money you want but have a broken relationship with the ones you love?
I’m an analytical person. I did not follow the money trail. I followed the relationship trail. I just have faith that anywhere I go I can make a living, but there is only one place to have a life and that is with my loving wife.
So the solution is this – I believe it should be you follow the money trail with respect to your relationship trail. What do I mean? You find a way to make money around your treasure. In my case, we started a business, a business that is closest to my wife’s heart – a center for children now known as Trails. In a business, you need to have structure and content to make it viable. At Trails, I take care of the structure, she takes care of the content. In anatomy, I am the bones, she is the flesh. We are yin and yang.
It is not a perfect ride. We have some disagreements. But that is what makes life interesting. Whether we disagree or agree, we are doing it together.
We are at a point we believe we can accomplish anything as long as we are together. With that I’m pretty sure more wealth will follow.
Matthew 6:33 says, seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.
Seek love first and everything will follow.
Ern Ynion 