It should really be no surprise by now that I feel we are so spoiled with stuff here in America and take it all for granted. We talked about how that affected me the last few days. Here is what I am doing now to try and curb that. I am just making small simple changes over time. Nothing too drastic yet. (Ok, so we did get rid of tv, but that is more a life style choice than a money/greed issue for us.) Other than that, slow and steady.
For example on a recent trip to Target, I bought two sets of two candles for eight dollars instead of going for one pack of six for ten. "Why?", you say. "It's a deal. You are getting more for less!" Well, not really. It's not a deal to spend two more dollars for two more candles when I didn't need six, I only needed four. (Advent wreath. On second thought I should have gone for more because the middle child likes to light them all the time when we eat and we are down to nothing. Just maybe not these ones. I am not impressed with them because they are getting wax all over my wreath!)(Side bar number two-I gave in and got the slightly more expensive ones when we were at Bed Bath and Beyond-the word dripless had me hooked! Sometimes you do get what you pay for.) The point is these are the many small changes I am making.
What about you? What small changes can you make? Less eating out? No Starbucks in the morning? Ten dollars less on everyone's Christmas gifts. (For me that would be about 3 1/2 months of Compassion sponsorship. Big extended family...)The little things do add up and eventually make a lot.
So this year start small. Think of one small simple thing you can cut back on to save more money for yourself and to give more to others who really truly need it a lot more than you do. Do as Mother Teresa said and "Live simply so that others may simply live." (Ouch, I just heard God saying that to me when I wrote it. I am being called to an ever more simpler life!)
If you really want to challenge yourself you can even think about the big things. For example, you do not NEED tv. You just want tv. I know, I did too. But I am here four and a half years later. I survived. In fact I am a lot happier without it.
What about cars? Do you NEED two cars or do you just want two cars? (No pressure.) My husband and I actually contemplated this one but didn't go there. We would have but his work is too far away and the several bus routes don't match up with his odd times otherwise we might have. So there is a mini van sitting in my driveway which costs enough to sponsor three kids all the way through Compassion and his would do two kids. I know other people this has worked for and my own parents had to do it for several months and it worked out just fine. In some cases it works.
So why am I mentioning all this? Charity! Less is really more when you give. You have less things but you get so much more in giving. So this season try to find ways you can spend less so you can give more. That's what this season and the message of Jesus are all about. I'm just the messenger. Just throwing the challenges out there! Planting seeds, that's all I am doing. I know all this is very counter cultural, but seeing as I don't have tv and all, I tend to not think cultural much any more.
Tomorrow's a big one. I tackle "the big guy" himself...
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