…’ ECCLESIASTES 3:1 KJV
Learning, Earning, Returning!Your life should follow a pattern where the main focus goes from learning, to earning, to returning. Let’s look at each season: Learning! When you’re young your focus should be on exploring your talents, discovering God’s purpose for your life, and sharpening your skills. For most of us this occurs during our early teens and 20s. The exact timing is not important; what matters is understanding that there’s a season where learning and growth are your primary objectives, and that you shouldn’t take short cuts to financial gain and miss the big picture God has in mind for you. Earning! Obviously your profession impacts your earning power. For many of us the season when our earning is most effective occurs in our 30s, 40s and 50s. During this time you should strive to take care of your family, stabilise your life, and prepare for the future. Returning! If you’ve honoured God, worked hard and planned well you enter a phase that’s most rewarding. This is when you get to experience the joy of giving back. Often this occurs in your 50s, 60s, and 70s and beyond. But don’t wait until you’re prosperous to become generous! Your level of income and your desire to give have little to do with one another. Some of the most generous people have very little materially, whereas plenty of people with lots to give have no heart to give it. For example, 80% of those who earn over one million dollars a year leave nothing to charity. What a legacy! Dr Martin Luther King, Jr, gave us words to live by when he said, ‘Life’s most persistent and urgent question is “what are we doing for others?’’