How we attain such a balanced life is one of the main themes of Scripture. First, it means recognizing and renouncing our tendency to make idols of money and power (see Ecclesiastes 4:4—“I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person’s envy of another. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind”). Second, it means putting relationships in their proper place (see Ecclesiastes 4:8—“There was a man all alone; he had neither son nor brother”), even though it probably means making less money (“one handful” rather than two).
