Have you gone through a financial desert?

 

When there’s not enough money to pay the bills?

 

When you couldn’t afford to meet your most basic needs?

 

When God brings you to a financial desert, He’s teaching you the most important lessons in life.  Because the desert is God’s university.

 

       I know some parents who as kids were raised in poverty.  But through struggle and faith, they’ve now left the financial desert.   They’re now living a comfortable life.

 

But here’s the problem: Because they now have the ability to give a comfortable life to their children, they give too much comfort.

 

If you’re one of these parents, let me speak frankly to you.  By giving everything that your children ask–expensive clothes, fancy toys, newest cell phones–you rob them of the very thing that made you strong: the desert, the place where you struggled and built your character and made you who you are.

 

       Teach your kids the lessons of the desert.

 

Here are 5 things you can do to help them build character and succeed in life…

 

First, give them everything they need, but don’t give them everything they want.  There’s a difference.

 

Second, teach your kids to focus on sharing to others less fortunate then them.  (Christmas is a great time to do this, but don’t limit it to Christmas only.)  Let them have the desert experience, even vicariously.  Bring them to He Cares ministry that feeds 500 streetkids each week.  Or to Anawim, our home for the aged.  Or to Tahanan, our orphanage.

 

Third, teach kids to think and talk in the language of the desert.  I tell children, “Don’t ask your parents, ‘Can I ask for P100?’  Change your language.  The language of the desert is, ‘Mom, what can I do to earn P100?’”  As early as ten to twelve years old, teach your children to be entrepreneurs.  Maybe your kids can make and sell sandwiches in school, maybe they can invest in a candy machine, maybe he can tutor smaller children for a little fee.

 

Fourth, if you’re a parent, don’t depend on your children’s school to educate them financially. Most schools don’t. You’ve got to do that on your own.

 

Fifth, one of the most important lessons you need to teach your children is the joy of simple living…

 

Inspire Your Kids To Live Simply

 

Parents complain to me, “My kids are so materialistic!”

 

       This is my answer: If you see your kids splurge on designer clothes, don’t complain if your closet is filled with them too.  You’ve got to show the way.

 

Second, not only should you live simply, you should enjoy living simply.  They won’t see the logic if you gave up your luxury car, and then hear you complain and bicker and fret about your second-hand car.

 

This Christmas, when kids ask for expensive toys, expensive clothes, and expensive cars, don’t answer, “We can’t afford it.”  That’s a clear message that says, “We live a deprived life.  Boo-hoo-hoo…”  You have to clearly explain to them that living simply is a deliberate choice.  Sit them before you and say, “Daddy and Mommy can buy that toy for you, but if we do, we’ll have to work harder to earn money.   Perhaps we won’t come home for dinner, and be away for the weekends.  Do you want Daddy and Mommy to be away from you–or do you want them to always be here beside you?”

 

Don’t expect it to sink in right away.  Let them see you enjoy the simple things of life–not just those with a high price tag.  In the end, simple lifestyle is caught more than taught.

 

       But here’s one parent who had a kid that got the message and loved it.

 

It so happened that I was sitting and observing a group of boys, including my son, who sat in a circle nearby.  Their conversation went like this: Child A: “My daddy is a doctor and he makes a lot of money and we have a swimming pool.”  Child B: “My daddy is a lawyer and he flies to Washington and talks to the president.  Child C: “My daddy owns a company and we have our own airplane.”  Then my son (with aplomb, of course) looking proudly at my direction: “My daddy is here!”

                                                  –David Elkind

      

       Inspire your kids.

 

       Merry Christmas!

 

 

       May your dreams come true,

 

 

       Bo Sanchez

 

PS. Attention: Married Couples!  Do you want to strengthen your relationship even more?  Do you want to heal inner wounds in your marriage?  Give your spouse a very special post-Christmas gift.  Deepen your love for each other this 2014.  How?  Join REKINDLE, a One-Day Marriage Retreat, on January 11, 8am to 6pm, in Pasig, with Marriage Expert Pio Espanol.  For more information, click here now.