I just read an article in the AARP Bulletin (from October, 2021 as I’m a bit behind) by Linda Stern talking about the futility of people constantly checking their credit scores and worrying about them if they drop a point or two. The article went on to say it was needless worrying as a credit score is one number where good is good enough and perfect isn’t very meaningful. It is not a measure of you as a person and constantly monitoring your credit score can actually be harmful. Some folks become so obsessed with a good credit score, they are afraid to take good financial actions.

I thought about the advice in this piece as I tend to be one who checks this data quite regularly.  I wouldn’t say I am obsessive, but I want a “better than good” number if the truth be told.

Why do we do this?  I think it might be a learned behavior. Maybe it’s because we are always checking numbers as a measure of our lives.  We check and count cholesterol numbers, A1C numbers, miles per gallon, the continual upswing of the cost of gas and groceries, the number of people moving into our communities, coming to our church, sending us Christmas letters and the list goes on. Counting and checking things has been a part of our lives since we started school or perhaps before and the number of those things increases exponentially, the older we get and the more we have to count.

My take away from this article directly relates to how we may perhaps think about living our lives.  Keep the checking and counting in perspective.  In a society that has us counting money, pounds, calories and steps, be a rebel and count your blessings instead.  Remember first and foremost…God loves us unconditionally. His never changing loves provides us with all we have and need in spite of the fact we do not deserve what He does for us.  Thanks be to God.

Patty Willoughby