Our Future, Our Investment

For a very religious man, this heading is simply blasphemy. After all, the Holy Books made us to believe that our lives depend on the creator of heaven and earth, so what the heck am I talking about investment and the future then? Uhmm, well, please hear me out before you cast the first stone.

I must say here that our future, truly depend on our ability to trust in the grace and mercy of the creator. No matter our efforts to better our lots in life, if He does not approve of it, it will all come to nought. So, the first step to greater and brighter future is to follow God’s instruction and live our lives in accordance with his purpose for our existence.

Again, it is very instructive to know that His purpose for our live is to “dress and maintain this beautiful garden call the planet.” And this we can only do if we are willing to invest our time, energy and resources to better the environment. The first man in the garden of Eden was charged with the instruction to “be fruitful and multiply,” but there is no way we can be fruitful or multiply if we are not investing or doing something to replenish what we are consuming.

So, the argument that our future is determined by our investment could therefore be stressed further by saying, if we fail to replenish the earth, sooner or later, the whole of the earth could become empty and the future will be in danger because nothing will be left to sustain whatever life that survives the years of the locust.

Let look at it from this angle, a farmer who eats all of his harvest will have nothing left to plant in the next planting season and that also presupposed that such farmer will definitely be left with nothing to harvest at the next season as well.

Our future can only be guaranteed when we come to the realisation that there is the need for us to constantly provide for the coming generations. Many of us engaged in consumption of almost all that we earned today with the position that what we are earning today is not enough to sustain today’s need. Then, what would become of us if by tomorrow, we are unable to earn any income? Our ability to put aside a portion of our today’s income could provide some form of insurance for our tomorrow needs.

When in my last post I talked about money issue, its sound sacrilegious in the ears of some people that money can buy you happiness, or sleep or peace of mind. Then, when you look at the good things of life, people strive to acquire, they are not for free. A good car, a good accommodation and a pleasant working environment could be a boost to your well being and bring you happiness.

The problem with our thought on money is that, while it was meant to provide us all the basic comfort of life, we have perverted the course of life and pursue money to the detriment of our health, love for the next person and service to God. Because of greed, money has become some people god to the extend that in spite of the provision of the basic good things of life, they are never satisfied; while they keep seeking for more till they are overcome by their greed.

Now back to our discussion on investment, it is important that we cultivate the habit of savings little by little to take care of our future needs, even out of the little earnings of today. Then, from our savings we need to invest wisely as a bulwark for the future.

Our society is today engrossed in large appetite for consumption without a thought for tomorrow. What we have seen in Nigeria today is a country that is not ready to invest in the future, but merely engaging in consuming all its earnings on frivolities.

Those who are in government are busy sharing the national cake, without thinking of how to bake more that can go round the majority of the people and therefore, our future is in danger as a people.

The vast depletion of the nation’s foreign exchange reserves, savings in excess crude accounts and the controversy over the portion of overhead consumed by the National Assembly are indication that the mangers of our economy today careless for the future of this country.

Unless, we change our ways and beginning to invest in the power sector, create more employment opportunities for the millions of our youth, provide basic infrastructure that will support living and ensuring that we diversify the economy in such a way that we are no longer oil dependent nation, surely Nigeria as a nation will soon become extinct.

   

My takes on Money

Have you ever imagined what life will be like without money? Think of this, how will you have become what you are today without money playing a significant part? From birth to death, resources are required to ensure that you were properly brought up and groomed in all the three dimension of your life; body, soul and mind.

Your body needs proper feeding to remain healthy and perform maximally. The body also needs clothing to be warmed and protected from the inclement of the weather. The body needs shelter and a place to rest; all these can only be achieved with money.

Same goes for the mind, to be educated in this present age; one needs substantial sums of money, from school fees, buying books and provisions to other essentials learning aids. One’s soul also needs nourishment with tender love, care and spiritual lifting and there is no way one can discountenance the place of money in all of these developmental stage of one’s life.

Irrespective of our perception about money, getting it is a part of our mandate in this life, and not having it can lead one to sin against God, bring reproach to one’s existence and make living unbearable at whatever levels one may have found him/herself. No wonder king Solomon said money answers all things, and he went on to say that money is a defence. When you look at our environment today, the rich often find justice faster than the poor, while a rich man gets the first seat in any gathering and the poor man is disdained.

It is not my intention to despise those who are poor, but the truth is that poverty attracts universal disdain and does not glorify anybody. Living an enduring life requires that we work hard and pray for divine blessing that will enable us sustain our principles when the torrent of temptations come our ways. Many so-called principled men and women had succumbed to pressure and gave up on their beautiful ideas because of the urgency in meeting their basic needs of life.

Although, you might say that those who gave up on their principles did so because of greed, but think of this; a man without means of livelihood, with bills piling up and unable to meet up with his basic needs would give up on his principles to overcome hunger and indignity brought about by poverty.

Money can buy you so much comfort, it can buy you some form of happiness, Love is made sweeter by the presence of money, sleep made comfortable with the right environment created or made possible by money. Name it, with loads of money in your pockets, you can have your dream cars, live in your dream houses, travel on holiday to any part of the world and enjoy the best of anything you can think of.

Many relationships are courted and sustained on the basis of availability of money, while most rich people can enjoy freedom from the harassment and stress in our society today with their money, the present structure of our society does not give room for people without money to survive. Access to health care, quality education, good living environment and societal recognition come by way of having money to spend.

The Scripture talks about a wise man that helped deliver a city from destruction as a result of his wisdom, but was forgotten because he was a poor man. Despite his ability to save millions of the city dwellers from untimely death, he was denied his due recognition because he does not have money. What a society that ranks money far above integrity and honour!

In the church, preaching about riches has become dominant; however, in spite of all these, honour, integrity and service to mankind are supreme.

There is no way we can talk about an enduring lifestyle without discussing the issue of money because it is often the object of many good, bad, and sometimes, ugly things that happen to us in this beautiful world. It can be said that many people are poor today because of ignorance and lack of basic knowledge on how to make money, while those who strived hard to make it by all means ended up selling their consciences and souls for a plate of porridge that cannot fill their belly.

Having money is surely good and can enhance our lifestyle and increase our worth in life, but then we should be wise enough to recognise its limitations and usage, despite its importance. We should be able to know that money sometimes fails, just like other material things in life. As important as money is to our existence, we should recognise the need to pursue it without compromising our health, principles, fairness to others and our relationship with God.