Relational Spending

As I keep researching and reading about the trends and the economy, I started to fall into a depressed state of mind. What is this all about? Why am I trying so hard to keep my head above water and pay for my way in this world? Today it hit me, well actually it started yesterday afternoon, we were in a late afternoon meeting talking about the trading up/trading down trend (where we see people still going out to dinner (trade up) but going to Don Pablos instead of Cheesecake Factory (trading down)) and we started to talk about how people are spending their monies right now on relational items. So I started to think about how I'm spending my money and I realized this is true, I spend on getting family and friends together to enjoy the relationship and love we have built. This morning my devotional was Mark 12: 29 -31 ~ Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.” So as we start to think about how we are spending and saving our monies, we should do so with love in our hearts for the relationships we are building here on earth. It's starting to all make a little more sense to me now...what is this all about? Building relationships. Why do we keep our heads above water and pay our way in this world? To respect those we are building relationships with and to respect the Lord who gave us the means to keep our head above water. It's not about how much, it's about the how.