GOING FOR YOUR ANNUAL CHECKUP

 

          Every year, I have a doctor’s appointment for a physical, blood work, tests; and a dentist appointment where my teeth are cleaned and x-rays are taken. In fact, today Steve’s and my house had a checkup of the heating system! Annual checkups are nothing new for most of us (even if we don’t look forward to them).

          Have you considered annual spiritual checkups? How about a spiritual checkup related to your finances? Money is actually part of your spiritual life, and can affect, positively or negatively, your spiritual life and your faith.

          Checking up your relationship with money is a good and important way to make sure that is a positive issue. Questions that I came across related to this include:

1. 1.   Do you ever worry about having enough or keeping what you have? Yes or no
2. 2.   Do you ever envy what others have or have been able to do because of what they have and you don’t? Yes or no
3. 3.   Do you get anxious about inflation and how it affects your savings and what you have set aside for retirement? Yes or no
4. 4.   Does your assessment of your personal value focus on what you earn? Yes or no
5. 5.   Does paying bills bring you stress? Yes or no
6. 6.   Has money been the focus of or source of an argument with a loved one? Yes or no
7. 7.   Do you spend more time during the day thinking about money then you do in prayer? Yes or no

          Be honest when you answer these questions. Don’t answer them the way you wish they could be, but answer them the way they are. When your doctor asks you questions during your physical like “do you exercise”, “do you smoke”, “how much do you drink”, “do you add salt to your food”? You’re supposed to answer the questions in truth, not in what you wish the answers were, or what the answers should be so your doctor isn’t mad at you. See, no matter was you answer, the tests the doctor performs during your physical will show the truth.

          These questions can function the same way as the tests that the doctor performs on you, if you’re honest.

• ·        If your blood pressure is high at the doctor’s office, then the doctor can guess that you are going out to eat too much or are adding salt to your food.
• ·        If the doctor listens to your lungs or does an x-ray and it shows something, then the doctor can guess that you are smoking.
• ·        If your sugar level is too high at the doctor’s office, then the doctor can guess that you might have a couple of drinks.
• ·        If your weight has gone up since the last time you were there, then the doctor can guess that you aren’t exercising.

          If you answer yes to any of these financial spiritual questions, then your relationship with money may be toxic and may need some work. Maybe you need to work on budgeting, or getting out of debt, or talk to a financial advisor, or do some financial classes.

          Treating the issues that the doctor finds during your physical ensures that your health remains good and that you have a healthy life.

          Treating the issues that a spiritual checkup of your finances means that your relationship with money doesn’t interfere with your relationship with God.

          Be honest; answer the questions; and then plan to make some changes, if needed.

          And do a checkup every year, because things change all the time!