Two Masters?

No other subject in my life will start a fight with either an ex-wife or the Mrs. faster than the subject of money and starting late last week, money seemed to want to fill a predominant role in my life.  There were the prerequisite and for once in my life, one-sided fights about the issues.

I've never been smart with money, to be sure, or I wouldn't find myself in the mess I'm in today.  That's OK, though, because I no longer place the value on material things I once did.  I'm no longer a slave to my desires.  My primary view on money these days is to just find a way to clean up the mess I'm in with following principles set out in the Bible.

I had some pretty good news to share with the wife about money.  News I never got around to sharing because I couldn't get a word in during the conversations we had.  Our conversation started off about taxes and went from bad to worse, mostly because I never had a chance to get a word in as she was letting me know in no uncertain terms how angry she was with me.

I get that a lot, have for years, from the first Mrs. Cooper, the second Mrs. Cooper, and the current Mrs. Cooper.  I used to have very skewed views of relationships and as I think back, money was the only weapon they had to fight back at me.  That doesn't say much about me and who I used to be.  In fact, placing a dollar value on my relationship with Wendi is partly to blame for the way she feels about me, and much to blame for the way she treats me today.

I don't expect the sins of the past not to have a cost and because money was so important to me, it seems money will be used to teach me a lesson about the cost of trying to serve money as a my master.

Money is no longer my master.

In rethinking my life, I've rethought what I do with my money and try to apply Biblical principles to what I do.  It seems to take the steam out of the arguments and that, in and of itself,  is a blessing.

The day will come down the road when the mistakes of the past will be fully paid for.  The lessons I've learned came at great financial expense but I have to tell you that in the grand scheme of things, they were worth more than all the gold in the world.

What I value these days is people, friendships, relationships.  I don't look for the worldly things to satisfy my needs anymore.  I look at the blessings I receive from God's love and know that I'm so undeserving of those things and grateful that He's chosen to bestow them on me.  I don't look at a problem and try to solve it with money.  I don't use money to show people I care about them anymore.

I serve a different Master and that's not His way.  His way is so much better.

God Bless,

Coop