Reflection Paper
Samantha Haun
My relationship with money can be defined with one word, hard. I know that we have to be careful with funds, especially when we have to be careful having little of it, but if we do has the Lord commands, everything will be alright in the end. I try to be conservative with my funds, but I often find myself putting money where I could have spent better. Right now, I’m simply saving for school, slowly getting my degree done. I’m able to pay for all my classes with my minimum paying job, and still have a little of fun money, but I know that I can start saving for things down the road, instead of spending now on useless things, if you want to get technical. Over time, my relationship may change, and I hope it does. I pay tithing consistently, so I am a full tithe payer, so I know that will never change. And with credit cards, I know I must be careful with those to stay away from debt. What will change, with diligence and faith, is saving for better things, and conserving against those things that don’t really benefit me in the end. I will probably be saving more, and being more careful on spending.
If I suddenly earned a large sum of money, the least I could say is that would be a hard lesson to learn. “All too often a family's spending is governed more by their yearning than by their earning. They somehow believe that their life will be better if they surround themselves with an abundance of things. All too often all they are left with is avoidable anxiety and distress,” as Elder Wirthlin states. So, based on this doctrine, if I’m faithful to it, it shouldn’t change my relationship, and therefore would be a pillow for emergencies, and maybe even better, use it to help others who need it more than me. That would be the Christ like thing to do. “Gradually build a financial reserve, and use it for emergencies only. If you save a little money regularly, you will be surprised how much accumulates over time.” This would be the right thing to do, saving for something important.
Well, as the saying goes, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Everything in this world costs something. So, yeah, I view money as a goal, but view it in a righteous way. We should make it our goal to conserve a little bit of extra money for something better down the road, or for emergencies. You have to save a little bit at a time, so it’s a goal you’re trying to accomplish. I would say I’m comfortable with wanting money, but it’s what we need to survive this world, to care of ourselves and