I respect the heck out of anyone who provides for their family. Work is important. It is not a “four-letter word.” God designed it for a purpose. It is good—very good, even.
But it is possible to be so consumed by it that it robs you of experiencing the good life.
What is “the good life” anyway?
Well, in a sense, I think you get to define and design what that is. I believe in God’s sovereignty, of course, but I’m not a fatalist. I don’t think your hand is being forced to hold the job you do, work the hours you work, or very much else for that matter.
Most people associate the good life with having lots of money. I’m not sure whether that’s the right idea. But I can’t choose that for you. What I do know is that money is a renewable resource. Time, though? You’ll never get that back.
As a matter of principle, I always prefer to spend money rather than time on a thing. In terms of earthly things, freedom of time and choice are far more important to me than money. Of course, you can’t pay your mortgage with time. You need to make money. I’m not saying you don’t work. I’m calling you to intentionality around how you spend your days.
The good life for me?
A couple of weeks ago, my kiddos had their awards ceremony at school. I got to be there for that. Now—were other parents there for that? Oh yes, of course! Many of them took a few hours off from work, or only one of their parents went while the other was at work, etc. It’s not like you can’t do things like that if you work.
But I didn’t have to ask anyone’s permission. I’m the boss. I got to pick up and do what I wanted to do, because I wanted to do it. I’ve got pictures and videos from that day I might not have had otherwise. If I was still working my full-time job, I don’t know that I would have got to be there for that.
Hear me—I’m not saying if you have to (or even want to) work a lot in this season of life you’re a bad person. I’m also not saying that you get to be in control over everything in your life. I don’t believe either of those things.
What I am saying is you have agency over many things that most people don’t realize. You could design your life to be a certain way and then find a job or create a business that helps get you there. You can decide to stop working 80 hours a week for a boss you don’t even like so that you can see your kids more.
You don’t have to do things the way “they” told you if you don’t want to.
You could homeschool. Or, you could not homeschool. You could work now and retire later, or, you could build a life you wouldn’t want to retire from. The choice is yours. And the same could be applied to many areas of life.
Whatever choices you make, make them with eyes wide open—intentionally. And though I can’t tell you what to do, I think at the end of the day, you’ll be glad if you optimized for having time to live the life you want to live.