What a Dog Can Teach You About Getting Riches
November 24th, 2008 | Michael Q. Pink
“Labor not to be rich: cease from your own wisdom. Will you set your eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.” (Proverbs 23:4-5)
Have you ever seen a dog on the beach spotting some seagulls on the sand and chasing after them? Of course, by the time he gets there, they have flown out of reach. Undeterred, he goes after another, then another, then another, never catching them, but always believing he will catch the next one. We smile as we watch him in complete futility endlessly chase the birds. We know it’s futile, but the dog doesn’t. Every once in a long while, a dog may actually catch one of those birds, though I’ve never seen it happen and the odds are very much against him.
We think it is silly for the dog to chase the bird, yet so many of us are like that dog on the beach. We are not chasing birds, but we are chasing riches and Solomon (who knew more than a little about money) compared the pursuit of riches to chasing a bird. Think of Solomon as Warren Buffet, Bill Gates and the president of the United States all rolled into one, only wiser and wealthier. He tells us not to labor to be rich. It’s the wrong motivation. Wrong approach. Doomed to failure. But like the dog, we are sure it will work this time or next time, or the one after. We are wrong, but cannot be convinced of that because we heard about some guy who did run after riches and caught them.
If riches are like birds and chasing them only scares them away from us, how do we attract the birds to land on us, so that we don’t have to chase them after all? I believe God gave me an answer for that which I will elaborate on tomorrow. In the meantime, if you have less than a million dollars and want to make the most of it, I urge you to get one of the few remaining copies we have left of How to Manage a Million Dollars or Less. Dave Ramsey, myself, Dennis Peacocke, Peter Lowe, John Mason, Paul J, Meyer and 23 other contributors submitted their best advice inside this book. You can save over 50% as they are now on sale for Christmas for just $7. There are several other items there for up to 90% off.
November 24th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
We have a black lab who in her younger days, and when we lived in Connecticut on Long Island Sound, would chase after seagulls. I can still see her excitement going after those birds, and they would gently swim over the waves, enticing her to get into the deeper waters.
She wouldn’t stop chasing and we would have to call her back to shore. After a couple of hours, we’d get her to go back home and she would sleep solid the entire night. But, if we decided to take her back to the beach the next day, the whole scene would play itself out again, and again.
Sometimes I’ve prayed to God to reveal in me if my entreprenurial pursuits are like that of my black lab, or just an unquenchable thirst for creating something that “makes a difference.”
Another timely commentary, Michael. I will think about this during my upcoming four-hour car ride for a Thanksgiving visit… between the kids’ songs, snow/rain slush, and inquiry wife into “why are you so quiet in this chaos? what are you thinking about?”
Now, I can answer her.
Happy Thanksgiving!