The ancient Greek Olympic games included an interesting competition. In this particular race the runners carried torches in their hands. To win, a runner not only had to cross the finish line first, he had to arrive there with his torch still lit
The concept of whole-life prosperity, which we will learn throughout this book, is much like that Greek race. Managing our finances isn’t merely about making it to the end of the month. It is also critical that we reach that goal with the rest of our lives intact. We must learn to find a balance between time, talents, and treasures—tangibles such as money or possessions, and intangibles such as the love and respect of our friends and family.
Many people live as though the way to prosperity is a hundred-meter dash. These people try to reach their financial goals in the shortest possible time. They risk time, talents, and treasures in order to obtain an economic benefit as soon as possible. The 21st century dream seems to be:
To retire as soon as you can,
With as much money as you can,
To do as little as you can,
For as long as you can!
It is important for us to understand that the path to whole-life prosperity is not a hundred-meter dash. The truth is, the route that will lead you to whole-life prosperity looks more like a cross-country marathon— complete with hills, rocks, and other obstacles.
This course wants to hep you on this life journey, to build up wealth in the five most important areas, so we can keep our torches burning and be ready to spend our wealth to reach your life goals and to be a blessing to people around us!
If you have no direction in life, you cannot rich your preferred destination. Look at this clip from "The Silly Olympics" by the Monty Python team.
