Healthy Money

Excerpt taken from Healthy Money: A 30-Day Journey Toward Spiritual, Emotional, and Financial Freedom by Callie and Rosario Picardo

Day 5: Carpe Diem Mindset

Scripture: James 4:13-15
“Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’”

In the movie Dead Poets Society, English teacher John Keating (played by Robin Williams) encourages his students, “Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary.” This
is the motto of those with the Carpe Diem Mindset. Those who live by carpe diem (Latin for “seize the day”) know that tomorrow is not promised, so they make the most of today.

A mother of young children overcame cancer, and she and her husband decided to prioritize making memories and enjoying life now because cancer was a wake-up call that reminded them of the brevity of life. Rather than saving every penny for the future they may or may not share together, they began intentionally investing in making memories with their family today through special family trips and everyday moments.

Someone with a carpe diem mindset is good at celebrating life. They value experiences over stuff and want to create special memories, often with those they love.

The temptation is to spend constantly and never to save. Delayed gratification and working toward long-term goals can be a challenge. In health, the person with a carpe diem mindset has learned the balance of prioritizing needs, saving regularly, but also enjoying special moments and experiences with God and others, and using those moments to build relationships to share God’s love.

Characteristics of a healthy carpe diem mindset:
• Living for God today and sharing the love and gospel of Jesus Christ with others now
• Building relationships through special moments and memories with people who matter
• Helping others experience joy in this life and celebrate

Characteristics of an unhealthy carpe diem mindset:
• Spending constantly and never saving
• Addiction to thrills and new experiences that become the focus
• Impatience and an unwillingness to wait or work toward long-term goals
• Self-focused on what feels good rather than what is God-focused

Day 6: Laissez Faire Mindset

Scripture: Philippians 4:11-12
“I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.”

Laissez faire is a French phrase that means “allow to do.” Someone with a laissez faire mindset tends to go with the flow and be relaxed. With finances, they aren’t overly focused on money or possessions. It is honestly a hard mindset to cultivate in the United States of America or other countries where advertisements abound, designed to make you discontent so that you will buy things, whether you truly need them or not. In order to buy them, you have to have money.

Yet, Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount teaches, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? … Your heavenly Father knows that you need them” (Matthew 6:25, 32). God invites us to trust Him with our needs and not to obsess over food and clothing, let alone a new car or the latest phone or gadget. The Apostle Paul echoes a similar sentiment in his letter to the Philippians saying, “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want” (Philippians 4:11-12). There is power in contentment, and a person with a healthy laissez faire mindset has learned this secret power. They enjoy a peace when it comes to their finances and live simply, focusing on the more important things in life: loving God and others. They seek God first, and trust God.

Just as with all of the mindsets, there is an unhealthy version as well. The laissez faire mindset can tend toward neglect and financial laziness. We are all called to be wise stewards of whatever resources God puts in our hands. It is one thing to work with a financially wise spouse or financial advisor, but it is another simply to waste what God gives you. Others can live with a defeatist mindset, self-sabotaging or never working toward financial goals because progress seems impossible.

If any of these unhealthy attitudes have become common, it is time to return to the Lord, surrender your finances to God and ask God what He wants for your finances. If God is the owner and we are the money managers, we should try to honor God with our finances, even if that means starting today with whatever debt and bad decisions may have happened in the past.

Characteristics of a healthy laissez faire mindset:
• Financially content and not driven by greed or materialism to accumulate more
• Deep trust in God in the area of finances
• Holding finances and materials with open hands for God to use

Characteristics of an unhealthy laissez faire mindset:
• Paying no attention to finances to the point of neglect
• Giving up because any financial progress seems hopeless

…

Order your copy of Healthy Money: A 30-Day Journey Toward Spiritual, Emotional, and Financial Freedom by Callie and Rosario Picardo