Is there more to life than a paycheck?  While important to provide for oneself and family, it is also important to balance temporal needs with other needs (spiritual, social, emotional, health, etc.).  I learned this lesson in my own home when I was quite young.  My father served as a scoutmaster in the Boy Scouts when I was young.  He was dedicated to the young men he served and touched many, many lives.  He also worked as a service writer for a car dealership in a very competitive and demanding industry.  In an effort to stay in business and meet customer demands, his employer exacted a steep and heavy price of its employees.  This price ultimately began to affect my father’s physical, emotional, and social well-being.  I remember my father coming home from work in a rather agitated state on a fairly consistent basis.

It came to a head one summer when my dad spent months organizing and planning a week long summer camp for his scouts.  This was no small effort and required months of planning and organization.  Despite a previous authorization for a vacation leave, my father’s employer advised him the Friday prior to his camp that he was to report to work and rescinded his vacation leave.  After careful consideration, he realized that the physical, emotional, and social price his employer had been exacting upon him was disproportionate to the value of his employment.  He decided to attend the camp and his work was terminated upon his return.

While I am not suggesting that employees should quit their job or breach commitments to employers, I am suggesting that employer-employee relationships are more than paychecks.  Employment and paychecks are means to an end, not necessarily the only means nor the only end.  When there are alternatives and the price exacted for a paycheck by an employer is excessive, it would behoove both to consider the alternatives.  Employees and their families must often sacrifice significantly in behalf of their employer and those sacrifices should be considered within the greater context of what is needful and required to maintain a healthy balance with person and family needs.

Interestingly upon being terminated my father bid farewell to many of his colleagues and co-workers.  As he did so, a gentleman waiting for his car to be repaired overheard his conversations.  He offered my father an interview and subsequently extended an offer of employment within a few miles of our home.  During that time, my parents continued to pay tithes and offerings to our Church and to serve diligently in their assignments.  Although I remember life wasn’t completely rosy and we had our challenges, I also remember some particular blessings that came our way.  The windows of heaven indeed opened as promised by the Old Testament prophet Malachi (Malachi 3:8-12).  Our needs were met, we were blessed, and my dad really loved his new job where he continued to work for the next 25+ years.

My dad balanced our temporal needs with other needs (spiritual, emotional, social).  He ended up with a very rewarding career for an organization that was a better fit for him.  He did not impoverish himself in those other dimensions to meet our basic temporal needs.  My parents exercised faith necessary by continuing to obey the law of tithing, thus maintaining spiritual self-reliance.  They did not bankrupt themselves in one vital important life dimension to meet their temporal needs.  I learned that while work and temporal needs are extremely important and necessary, there is indeed more to life than a paycheck from a very demanding employer.  That was an experience and lesson that money can’t buy.

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