Wanting What You Don't Need

I am just as guilty as anyone of wanting what I don't need. I may have been oblivious to something before, but I'll see something someone else has and I'll want one for myself. Everyone does this.

One time an American company built a plant in Central America because of the plentiful and inexpensive labor. Everything went well. They built the plant and hired excellent employees at a cheap rate. Then, they had their first payday and everyone was very happy. But a strange thing happened the rest of that week - nobody showed up for work! Management was bewildered and went to the village leader for an explanation. The leader explained, "Well, now we've got all we need. Why should we come back to work?" So, management devised a powerful game plan. They sent each employee a full-color mail order catalog, and all the workers immediately showed back up for work.

When we go through the bills, there are a lot of them that are luxuries. Cable, internet, cell phone, internet on the cell phone, Netflix, etc. Then you spend money to buy a new computer, bigger TV, faster phone. When really, you were in just as good of shape when you had your old computer, tube TV, and slow phone.

It's funny how we hate what we have when we know there's something better out there. The trick is to be content. That is really hard to do. Especially when the economy eventually does come back and there's money to spend. You just want more stuff. It's something I have to pray for (contentment) or I'll go off the deep end wanting something until I get it.


JB