Is Less, More?

I like to tell the story of when my wife and I were first married.  We got married in college as poor college students (don’t do that!).  Besides the obvious power struggles that accompany new marriage (I lost by the way), we didn’t have any money…  Yet, when we look back on those times, we always view them with fondness.  So that begs the question, is less, more?  Are our lives better when we have less resources than when we have more?  Is it a bad thing to acquire some sheckles and does it actually take away happiness?  Hmm…

Those early days of marriage were tough to say the least.  Midnight moves from apartments (haha sorry bout that Lord).  Crappy cars that rarely worked, often over-heated and represented an adventure every time we had to drive home.  Windshield wipers that we manually moved back and forth with a shoestring because the motor burned out.  LOL, those were the days!  So why on earth would anyone look back at those tough times with any sense of happiness?  Is money evil?  Well, actually no.  The love of money is the root of all evil.  Why, you ask?  Because when money is number one, everything else is secondary.  When everything else is secondary you sell your life (and happiness) to the highest bidder.  But make no mistake, money isn’t evil in itself.  Some of the greatest men in the Bible were rich!  That’s no coincidence my friends.  We all need money and in my humble opinion, generally more than we currently have. That’s not greed, that’s honest.

So, we are left with the question, is less, more?  What is about those early days that make my wife and I smile?  Surely it wasn’t being surrounded by things that don’t work properly (There’s no fun standing by a car that’s overheating).  It couldn’t be not having enough money to go out to eat or buy new clothes.  It wasn’t living in apartments in sketchy neighborhoods, surrounded by sketchy neighbors, doing sketchy things (haha).  So, what was it already?

What made those times a treasure for us and the subject of oft repeated stories?  It was the quest!  It was the challenge to take what we had (nothing) and make it into something.  It was the adventure, the conquest, the opportunity to overcome!  And it was the blessed privilege we had to do it together!  We didn’t have time to argue about why we needed to replace the 47″ TV with a 55″ TV.  We had to focus on deciding whether to pay a bill or buy groceries.  We had important grown up things to do like find jobs, pay bills, have children.  And, we had to do it together…

Flash forward to today.  Those children are all grown up now (and wow they are awesome).  We don’t have car issues anymore and if we do we have the resources to fix them.  We live in a beautiful home and have freedom to do many of the things we want.  So we should just die happy right?  No way!  The same thing that made us happy back in the day is the same thing that makes us happy today.  The quest… We got plans man.  We have dreams that we haven’t realized yet.  We have treasures to find.  We have challenges to overcome.  We have enemies to vanquish.  We’ve got stuff to do!

So how about you?  What are the sources of your happiest times?  Do you have dreams or has someone (something) talked you out of them?  Is there a treasure out there that is waiting for you and do you have the wherewithal and energy to find it?  Or have you acquired some money now and settled into life; a comfortable life with no associated challenges?  Did you believe the lie that once you got some resources, everything would be okay?  Don’t believe it…

Is less, more?  I don’t think so.  You really do have a right to get your needs met and met abundantly (YOLO YOLO).  But your life is so much more than that.  Your life is supposed to be an adventure and you are the star character.  There’s something out there that ONLY you can do and if you don’t do it, it won’t get done!  I believe that when you look back on your life one day, you’ll find that your best days were the ones when you were challenged; when you had obstacles and when you were after something that didn’t come easy to you.  And you too will smile in fond remembrance of how kick-ass you were back then!

Life is a grand adventure my friends.  It’s rarely easy and the best things don’t come without a fight.  But if you decide to fight; to take it on; to figure it out, the rewards are out of this world (literally).  Never allow anyone to put an age limit on your quest.  It’s your quest and whether you conquer at age 30 or at age 60, conquering is kick-ass (haha again)!

Is less, more?  Probably not, but adventures and quests are the substance of life!  Never stop growing, yearning, questing, because that’s what the Good Lord had in mind for you (and me…).

It would be hard to win if there was no opponent.  And there is always an opponent even when, in your complacency,  you no longer see it.  So get in the fight and just win baby!

Just some good thoughts…