More than enough

We are taught to hold on.

Hold on to what we make. Hold on to our possessions. Acquire as many possessions as possible.

That is the key to success.

That will make us happy.

Let me be very honest here. I bought into this for a long time. I was generous with some things in my life. My time, my love, my friendship. But my money?

Not so much.

Part of the reason was because I had a “me first” attitude for so long.

I worked hard.

I had put myself through college.

I deserved…..

that new car

those new clothes

those new things for my apartment

We deserved……

the big wedding

And the nice honeymoon

And whatever we wanted.

We can always pay it off later, right?

What we didn’t realize was that our lack of discipline would trap us. It would keep us from being able to be generous when we really wanted to be.

How?

Because every dollar was accounted for. It was going to pay back what we had bought. And to live the way we were accustomed. There were so many times that I wanted to be generous. I wanted to write a big check to help a cause. Heck, I wanted to write a small check! But, I couldn’t. I was literally trapped in debt.

“You have more than enough only when you give it away.” Dave Ramsey

I always believed this. Deep down, I was an extremely generous person. I had just made some very poor financial decisions. But it was time for that to change. Several years ago, we took major steps to change our financial future. Some of those steps were forced on us through job loss and severe financial challenges. But most of them were our choice.

We signed up for Financial Peace University with Dave Ramsey. We followed Dave’s plan. We are significantly closer to our goal of becoming debt free.

We are still working on it. We know we have more than enough. And we feel grateful.

What advice do you have for people who don’t realize they have more than enough?