Journal Entry 49: Don’t Chase the Carrot
Jesus, if you’re not in it, I don’t want it.
Journal Entry 49: Don't chase the carrot.
To spot light one major blessing in my life is my current job. I've been here with the church daycare for 18+ years. I left once to try my hand at teaching, and came running back. This job of mine has been with me for just about my entire adult life, and I have plenty of evidence this is God’s hand at work. Jesus help me, I don't know what would've been the outcome, if I'd not had this job/ blessing.
History Moment:
1. Prayed for a job that was Christian based, something to help be of some kind of service to God. (I was currently working at a liquor store. ) I got hired at the church daycare, though I showed up at the wrong site and was hired anyways by my current job. Funny, even when we get lost, Jesus gets us where he knows we need to be.
2. Without waiting on God I got myself into a mess with sex outside of marriage, pregnancy, and tried to fix things on my own by marrying a woman I liked but didn't really even know that well yet. I became the step dad to two wonderful girls and father to my first son. I went against council, against the words of friends and family, and ignored dozens of red flags, and tried to fix my lustful action without God. Not hard to believe, the marriage was a train wreck, and we divorced just shy of 7 years together. I became a single dad of 5 kids, and their mother ran off to be ‘free.’ My job at the church daycare took pity on me, gave me free childcare, allowed me to take my older kids to school each morning, and was understanding when life with children forced me to call out. A big, huge, blessing indeed.
3. The church co-workers and my bosses became family. Teachers helped with hair and outfits as I have no style and can barely do a braid. Randomly my bosses and even a couple times the entire staff would surprise me with a gift of cash in an envelope right before I was about to fall behind on a bill.
4. I met Rainy, my love and blessing of a wife and best friend here at the job.
5. When covid hit and life went crazy, I had a job. I was able to keep working with a skeleton crew and very few kids in the daycare, but we survived.
6. When I left to be a teacher, something I’d wanted to try for years, and it failed, I went home and struggled. Rainy and I started the path that led to our business, and before we were completely broke my old church daycare called to see if I could come back. The timing was so perfect that my first paycheck landed right before the bills did.
7. Still here, still going to work everyday, I have been looking around for other jobs and better careers money wise. Friends and family have told me to take a job that I decided to turn down. Why, because there's another blessing to this job that I am coming to appreciate more and more. I'm home every weekend, I'm off every holiday, and I work the opening hours, so I'm home every day before my kids get out of school. I get to have and be part of this family God has blessed me with.
This last point is where my article comes in, and I say to you don't chase the carrot.
Example:
My dad grew up working on cars. He started a career as a mechanic about as low a you can start, but through experience, education, and good old fashion grit he made it to the top. By the time I was an adult my dad had became the most decorated mechanic you can. He earned a Ford master’s trophy and got to shake hands with the Ford owners. Impressive, right. He didn't stop there. He then went back to school, learned management, and then took over, back of the house, two large dealerships in separate cities. My dad busted his ass for a career, that when he got sick with cancer, the company dropped him. My dad gave his life to better himself at his job, take care of his family, and chase a carrot that cost him everything.
My dad's story is one of accomplishment, and I'm proud of him, but it cost him. People have been making the same mistake for generations. Dad worked 60+ hours a week, and even more on Saturdays. He spent more of his life working than actually getting to enjoy that life and his family.
Friends of ours are working for 40+ dollars an hour, him and her, but at opposing hours. They rarely get to see each other, and play relay race with their son. They’re making that dollar, but what are they sacrificing? It's not hard to guess the answer.
Before I get yall throwing up walls to defend against these words, I know money pays the bills. Some of us, sometimes, have to work just to survive. I work with someone who has two other jobs when she leaves the daycare, and she has to work to survive because of her situation. I'm not belittling such a fight. I've been there. I'm proud of my dad for all his accomplishments, for being that guy that would stop to help family, friends, and his neighbors. I just wish he'd found a better way to make that money without sacrificing so much.
When I say don't chase the carrot, I'm talking about leaving behind life for a dollar or a title or power. As a teacher in my area I made just shy of 70k a year. That's more money than I've ever seen. I also worked 60+ hours a week, brought my work home with me, and with all that the school still wanted more from me. My family lost me for that year, and it hurt them, it hurt me.
The school year almost over I began to ask the other career teachers if it was worth it. No one, not one, gave me a sure fire yes. Most, with a decade or more on the job, told me they weren't sure. After seeing what it takes, what teachers have to sacrifice, I chose my family and left. Would that kind of income helped, yes, most definitely. The money would have been at the cost of my family, my life, and no income is worth that.
Rainy and I started HisWoodHerArt.com in the effort to serve Jesus in a artistic and fun way, and to make some money. The idea came to us when I told her, after leaving teaching, that I want to work at home with her and be home with our kids. We haven't made that kind of income yet, but the goal is to find a way to make an income while at the same time being with each other. We're not chasing the carrot, but freedom and hopefully with Jesus. Will it work, well, we’ll just have to hope and pray to Jesus and keep on working together at it. But at least, we're together, my family isn't sacrificed for money.
Don't chase the bigger paycheck, if it'll make you a slave to it.
I’ve been looking into jobs/careers I would enjoy, and they all share one theme regardless of degree level required or your skill with a tool. The work is all week plus some weekends, and overtime is all but guaranteed. I came across a job for our electric company, six figures work I qualified for, but I had to be willing to relocate around the state as required.
Wait, what!?
Another job wanted me to work ten-hour days and be on call. My buddy drove trucks for a living and was out of town all week every week. He made good money, but he was never home. The list could go on for several pages, I’ve been searching, and the truth is evident. Jobs don’t care about your home life or your time. They’ll trade you your life for cash, and they won’t even be decent enough to lie about it.
Instead of trading your time/life to a career, look into ways to pull down your monthly cost. Pay off your car as quickly as possible and stay away from eating out. Put your thermostat to a slightly more uncomfortable level and save on your energy bill. Stay away from credit cards and debt in general if you can. Instead of riding around in a monster truck, buy something that’s fuel efficient. Rent’s too high, if you can, downsize. I tell my oldest son, he’s about to be 18, the best thing he could do is buy a busted-up home while he’s young with no kids, and fix that home up with a cheap monthly payment.
In short, find ways to lower your monthly cost. I don’t know your situation, and I’m not saying this is easy. I’ve been working for years, slowly, but steadily, getting rid of our debt and lowering our monthly cost each year. It has been a slow process, but thankfully, it’s working.
Don’t lose yourself to a 60+ hour job chasing a carrot that will be rotten and worthless by the time you obtain it.
Jesus has blessed my family greatly in many ways, and one of those ways I believe has been showing me that money isn’t worth the fight. Nice cars are used the moment you buy them. Fancy homes fall apart just like the old ones. Gated neighborhoods come with HOA fees and more chains holding you down telling you how to live on your own tiny plot of land. Chase Jesus, chase his freedom, and you won’t find yourself missing out on life but living it.
Trust that Jesus Loves You.