day 759: Paying Dividends

“How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out
of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things”


There is lots of talk on Wall Street right now about paying of dividends. Companies that had suspended their dividend payments during the Great Recession are now being questioned as to when they will restore those payments, if ever? Companies that currently pay dividends and are recording record profits are being challenged to raise their dividends. Those who never paid a dividend, but are sitting on a tremendous amount of cash that they aren’t using for acquisitions or R&D are being challenged to give back that capital to the shareholders. It’s that time of the year when money managers are trying to see what their annual returns will be and dividends can be an important piece in that puzzle. Whether or not a company pays a dividend is not really as much about their financial condition as it is their belief system and how they consider and treat their shareholders. If there is a high consideration on their shareholders and the contributions that they make, then the dividend payments just become part of what they do and plan. Down deep in their corporate psyche do they believe they should pay, or not?

The dividends that are paid and expressed from our beliefs are those that we also choose to act upon or not. While we may put on a good show for a bit, when we are faced with troubles and challenges we will default to our core beliefs and actions and if they are not right, then what come from us will not be productive or in the example of Christ. Jesus says it to us in Matthew bluntly. From good, comes good. From evil, comes evil. It’s that simple. It’s that complicated. It’s that hard to stay to strong in our core beliefs so that we don’t drift and cause a problem. Think about what dividends you are paying out from the life that you live. How you speak, how you work, how you conduct your business can all be indicators and strong examples to others. We are held to high standards and we have to constantly monitor those dividends come from us.

Reference: Matthew 12:34-35