Instant Gratification

Our culture is increasingly becoming consumed by instant gratification. We like fast food, get rich quick schemes, quickie divorce, and having things before we can afford them. We make choices for immediate satisfaction, yet, ignoring the long-range consequences of those decisions. If we live in this manner, we learn that dwelling only on short-term gain always leads us to long-term pain.

I watch young people on HGTV wanting large houses with all the amenities, instead of starter homes. If they have the money, more power to them, but if mortgaged to the hilt, it may not be real smart.  Millennials reading this are probably thinking to themselves, this guy must be a real dinosaur. Yes, I am from another generation. Being old does not necessarily make you smarter, but it doesn’t make you stupid either. This new generation is probably the brightest ever, having access at their fingertips to knowledge that the world has never known.  Knowledge by itself does not ensure that one is wise.  We are in the information age, and yet it seems to be doing very little to help us solve our problems more than the previous generation, maybe less.

 Wisdom often is just a keen sense of the obvious.  Financially, if your output exceeds your input, your upkeep will be your downfall.  If we continue to ignore long-term consequences at the altar of instant gratification, enduring pain will follow.

Image used with permission by Microsoft.

Ken Barnes the author of “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places”  YWAM Publishing
Email:  kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: https://sites.google.com/site/kenbarnesbooksite/