Budgeting and Stewardship - Goals for the New Year

 

As much as December is filled with gift giving and spending, fun and festivities, it is also the time when I start looking ahead to the new year. 

I'm a planner and though I've long since given up on out-of-reach goal setting and unreachable resolutions, I do still like to have a few budgeting goals in mind when moving into a new year.

So, this week, as I've been working on the January budget, I was thinking about a conversation I had with a young entrepreneur, who was agreeing that starting a business is tough and the money can be very inconsistent. One month you may have an abundance and the next month, nothing to write home about. And as I started to really think about this, in reference to God taking care of our needs, I realized that God does supply all of our needs, but we have work to do, as well.

Many times, when we have needs, God shows up in just the nick of time, to save us from going hungry. We praise Him and thank Him and then the very next crisis, we are in the same boat...waiting on God to show up.

I do this same cycle in my own budgeting of the household income, as I make a plan, stick with it for a few weeks and then go right back to my old ways of doing things and wonder where my money went.

But yesterday, after my conversation, I realized that the world tells us to ask for more, rather than teaching us to be better stewards of what we already have. 

By the world's standards, we never have enough. We need to hustle and make more money. We need to have side jobs and passive income and all manners of being self-sufficient.

But how does this factor in with relying on the Lord?

What about instead of acquiring more, what if the Lord wants us to learn to be better at taking care of what he's already provided?

Is always wanting more, kind of a slap in the face of a father who is a gracious giver?

I'm thinking it is.

Now, I'm not saying there isn't a place for making more money, in order to take care of your family or basic needs. We need money to live on Earth. 

All I'm saying is that we are often focused on what we don't have, instead of really being better stewards of what we already have.

When all of this came to my mind yesterday, it made me think of many areas of my life, where I have an abundance - clothes, food, furniture, decor, etc., but I'm not always the best steward of any of it. 

Maybe I don't take care of those things the way I should. Or maybe I'm too quick to toss something or donate something, when I really could wait a few more years and make it work. All of this is down to stewardship.

Stewardship is merely taking care of what you have, be it money, time, or possessions.

I'll admit, I need to be better at all of the above.

So as I finish getting my budget prepared for January and beyond, I'll be keeping in mind my one goal for the new year...making the best use of what God's already given me. And if he decides I need more, then I will be so grateful. But if he decides I have just what I need, then I'll be content to steward that well.

What about you? Do you like budgeting? Are you good at it?

I would love to hear your thoughts 😊

Until Next Time...

Blessings!