The Tension between Unlimited Wants & Limited Resources

One of the first things I learned in my introduction to economics class back at Central Michigan University was that economics is best described as the tension between “unlimited wants and limited resources.”

This perfectly describes the tension we experience at SpringHill every fall as we finish our upcoming year’s financial plan, or what we affectionately call “the budget.” It’s an “all hands on deck” (or should I say “all brains on deck”) activity because of the importance we place on the entire team’s input and ultimate ownership of the financial plan. It tends to be a time where everyone’s brain hurts and passions (and frustrations?) run high.

But for us the financial plan’s actually the final step in the development of what we call our annual ministry plan for it’s the anticipated financial outcome of that plan. Our ministry plan includes; which SpringHill Experiences (SHX) we’ll offer to whom, where we’ll offer these SHX’s, and the anticipated number of participants. We also work out the details of everything we’ll need to carry out these SHX’s including capital investment and staffing. Finally we align this plan with our 5 year strategic plan to assure we’re headed in the right direction and accomplishing our long-term goals.

We dream big for God which results in big plans early in the process. Then we begin to put dollars and cents to these plans and the tension begins to rise because our dreams are always unlimited but, we discover, God generally gives us limited resources. Over the years I’ve become convinced that God does this so that our big plans become His plans.

And in the end that’s our desire – that our plans will be God’s plans because we want the results and the glory to be all His.