Wants #2: Finances/Material Possessions

So I'm continuing to think about my "wants."

McCarthy's list of eight areas:

• Physical/Health/Recreation


• Finance/Material Possessions


• Family
• Vocation/Career


• Social/Community


• Spiritual


• Mental/Intellectual


• Other

I've been able to get rather specific in the area of Physical/Health/Recreation. I find it tougher to define wants in the other areas.

But let me try.

Finance/Material Possessions

First round. (Don't get bogged down in attempting to define a final, "perfect" list, John!)

• I want to have enough to live modestly.
  
  Some negatives:
  
  
  • I want not to live "above my means."
  
  
  • I want not to "live rich"; I want to cap my consumption . . . so that I might have something to share with others.
  
  This matter of having something to share, of course, also depends on my next want:


• I want to earn enough that I might have an abundance out of which I can give. (Ephesians 4:28: "Let him who steals, steal no longer. Rather, let him work . . . that he may have something to share with those in need.")


• I want to live wisely with what I have so that I can fulfill the "good" spoken of in Micah 6:8: "to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God."


• I want to conduct my affairs in such a manner that I do not hurt others . . .


• That I pay my bills on time at the latest.


• That, if or when I borrow, I do so, if at all possible, while possessing assets with which I could pay back the loan immediately. --Actually, this has a dual purpose. Not only does it protect my lender from possible default, but it protects me from engaging in the kind of loan into which the truly desperate--the profoundly poor--enter and, thus, become servants or slaves (Proverbs 22:7). [NOTE: Yes, I am convinced there are different types of loans and different forms of borrowing and some are wicked and some are wise. But that belongs somewhere else.]

The following is a tough one. I am having to overcome very strong "habits of mind" instilled in me from when I was very young:

• To live generously, not stingily. I find this showing up in such areas as


• Tips . . . to waiters and waitresses, cab drivers, porters, etc., etc. --I really struggle with this kind of stuff!


• "Picking up the tab" when I'm with someone. --It is so easy to "let the other person do it."


• Providing really nice food . . . at a potluck, say, or . . . whenever.


• When I give, to give wisely and purposefully. Not to be controlled by foolish sentimentality. . . .

First round. . . . To be continued.

Personal Wants

So I've been thinking about my "wants" as per Kevin McCarthy's urging in The On-Purpose Person.

I'm astonished at the results of my thinking.

First, out of the eight categories, I find myself "clear" in only one area: "Physical/Health/Recreation." And, really, only in the Physical/Health category.

I don't think much about physical recreation. I don't do physical recreation. At least not much. I enjoy going on walks with Sarita and riding our Greenspeed recumbent tandem trike. But we do that. We (or, should I say I?) don't want that in any yearning sense of the term. We just do it whenever the feeling strikes. . . .

But the second thing: Why am I unembarrassed to acknowledge my "wants" in the physical area, but in almost every other area of my life I am a bit embarrassed to acknowledge "wants"--as it's "unspiritual" or something, to "want." ("After all, aren't we supposed to be content with what we have . . . be open to wherever God leads . . . ?" --Philippians 4:11-12; 1 Timothey 6:6-8; etc.)

Third: . . . I'm not sure what is third.

I wonder to myself: Is it my wants that are so important? Shouldn't I be more concerned about what God wants? (Well, yes.) But, then . . . --Maybe I could (and should) say that my wants are along the lines of "whatever God wants"? . . . But that kind of answer permits me too much flexibility and open-endedness: I have no clear goal(s) to pursue. . . .

*****

Very incomplete lists, but I thought I would begin. Just get a few thoughts out "on paper," as it were. . . .

Physical/Health/Recreation

• Maintain my current weight.
• [Secret desires; my doctor and I really question their legitimacy; but . . . !!!]:
• Lose the five pounds necessary in order to meet the "official" value, at my height, of being non-"overweight."
• Lose 10 to 15 pounds in order to be more truly "skinny" the way I used to be.
• Maintain my current physical fitness levels.
• Use the ROM/QuickGym six times a week--three times upper body, three times lower body--whenever I'm home and not deathly ill.
• Maintain my sexual potency.
• Maintain and/or improve physical appearance:
• Get my teeth straightened.
• Do something about the bags becoming more and more prominent under my eyes. . . .

Finance/Material Possessions

Family

Vocation/Career

Social/Community

Spiritual

Mental/Intellectual

Other