“4 Do not wear yourself out to get rich;
do not trust your own cleverness.
5 Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone,
for they will surely sprout wings
and fly off to the sky like an eagle.
”
I started my business as an executive coach and leadership consultant four years ago and there has been no end to the work. The economy has been thriving and companies have been growing incredibly fast. One of my clients has tripled their work force in the past few years. The need for leadership training and coaching has been high. I have struggled to keep up and to find balance in my work life and my role as a husband, father, friend, and community member.
Everything changed last month when 95% of my business dried up overnight. The government mandated shut down of businesses and the measures around social distancing have eliminated all group meetings and many of my clients’ businesses have closed down.
I’ve read Proverbs 23 hundreds of times over the years but verses 4-5 have never made so much sense to me as they do today.
Forced to be home in isolation with my family has brought a renewed focus on the purpose of my work. I love to serve my clients and to help them serve their employees but I also work to provide for my family. Being forced to be home with not much work to do is helping me see more clearly what my family needs from me. Overworking to be rich causes us to underwork in the arena of home.
This time is serving as an opportunity to “reset” some of the unhealthy patterns that have been created over time. The wisdom of this Proverb shows me that my focus on overworking for money has created some challenges in other areas.
Verse 5 of this Proverb is also painfully true right now. My portfolio sprouted wings and just flew away to the heavens.
So, what is the wisdom here?
We do not overwork for riches; in fact, we do not work to be rich at all. We work because work is good for us and it is what we were created for. We work to serve others. Overwork, for the purpose of riches then becomes pointless.
The NKJV states verse 4 this way, “Do not overwork to be rich; Because of your own understanding, cease!” Full disclosure, I actually said to Dawn a couple months ago, “I wish the world would just stop for a couple of months so we could rest and catch up.”
Be careful what you wish for has never have been more true.
As many of you know, we lost both our father’s in the past couple of months, we sold and bought a house and moved this past weekend, business has been crazy, etc. I needed to cease. The aspect of my life under my control is the number of new clients I take on. The health of our parents and our kids, the need to move, and other community-based initiatives we are involved in are happening regardless, but my business is under my control; it is an area of my life where I can cease.
Biblical wisdom leads me to a sabbath day every week, which I have been fairly consistent in protecting. But to truly cease, to know when enough is enough, is additional wisdom from this Proverb. In this time of isolation I have been forced to cease; my hope is to learn from this and know when enough is enough, to work for meaning and not for riches, and to lead others to do the same.
This pandemic will change our world in ways we do not yet understand. My prayer is that this is one of the positive changes to come from this!
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
What lessons have you learned from this time in isolation? Have you been overworking or working with a misplaced focus? What changes will you make when the world gets back to “normal”? Share your thoughts below.