Earn and save money fast so that you can retire early and start to enjoy life. What is wrong with that? Isn’t that everybody’s dream?
Jesus told a story of someone who also longed for early retirement. His plan was easy,
“I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, `Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” (Lk 12:19-21)
This man deals with his soul as a slave serves his master: Eat, drink and be merry. A kind of navel-worship that encloses him into his little world and forgets the world out there.
We envy people who have what we struggle for. We admire people who are the kind of person we wished to be. We envy achievers; we admire devotion, fidelity, courage, determination, passion, freedom and integrity.
The question is how do we measure our lives? In years? In minutes? In merry moments? In achievements? In laughter? We should make up our minds before it is too late. Maybe “This night your soul is required of you.” What are we really struggling for? We do not need an early retirement plan as much as we need an early working plan.
