The enemy to our hearts, our souls, and our very lives could not have written a better script than the current economy to wreck lives, strain relationships and pull families apart. What can we do to survive?

The first thing we can do is be thankful for what we still have and realize that no matter how bad things are and how bad things will surely become, someone in the world is in worse shape than we are.  We can also realize that within each of us has been placed the ability to overcome any situation. The question is do we believe it? I’m the first one to tell you that losing a job can take you through it. It can make you question your self-worth, it can make you bitter, stress you out to the point where it can affect your health, and it can turn your material world upside down.  The new house you bought three years ago when things were going well faces or is in foreclosure, all the charge cards used to buy all the things that say “I am successful” cannot be paid as the compounded interest increases the minimum monthly payment that once was no big deal.

The worsening economy and the pink slips that come with it are testing the American family and individuals like never before. Few are left who remember the great depression of the late 20’s and early 1930’s so this is new when so many people are out of work and don’t know how they will make it. We are and I believe we will always be the most blessed nation on earth; but we are a spoiled nation of excess with a conditioned and programmed desire for material things. Simply put, many of us are finding it hard to deal with this kind of change. There is nothing wrong with having the nice things we’ve worked so hard for, but we have to adjust our thinking or else the really important things like love, family, relationships, and our belief in God will be lost.

Love must now take center stage if we as individuals and as families are going to survive this economic downturn. Out of chaos comes opportunity. In this case there is an opportunity to do things differently and to have a different attitude about what is important to us. Money is only a tool to increase one’s options for what they can have. The less money one has, the fewer the options. Take love over money any day. Since at this point in my life I don’t have a lot of money that’s not hard for me to say; but I’ve seen how the abundance of money and the obsession to have money can wreck lives and now I’m seeing how the lack of money can wreck lives…I don’t think it’s worth it.

Of course in this society money is needed to live and I’m not minimizing its place. However, love, family, the trust and appreciation we have for each other, faith, and our God-given ability to overcome anything must be something we completely embrace now more than ever because money cannot buy or replace them if they are lost because of the economy.

Say It Loud!