Skip to main content

Day 12 of 40

Sometimes, I get trapped by numbers. It's not the best feeling and part of my brain says "Self, you must be looking at this wrong." But then I fall into doing more and more calculations in hopes that  my math skills are what's askew, as opposed to my outlook. 
This year appears to be the one that God has decided to address me about this. Late last year, I stopped weighing myself. I've talked about me and the scale before. But I felt a really strong call within me from God to let it go for a year. To just not step on and find out. A year where my emotions have to find another source. This Lent, God has been putting me in places where I'm having to address some of that desire to get emotions from numbers. Mainly I've been trying to work myself up over my personal finances. And when I say personal finances, the only things that I pay for are fuel and luxuries. Seriously, I've been freaking out (internally) over a luxury budget! And there are people in this world, lots of people that spend in an entire year to survive what I receive in monthly luxuries. 
I think one of my problems is that I'm a saver. I LOVE to save money! I love having funds just sitting in the bank. And I love plans! I love setting aside a specific amount and just letting it grow. I think my problem is that I'm rigid. I will put that money in savings regardless of the situations that are actually occurring. So I'll stick five dollars in a fund for camp, even though today that five dollars could afford me a fun afternoon with my daughter.
I'm saving for a maybe and I may very well be missing out on the only opportunity I may have to enjoy the people I'm saving for! Saving in itself isn't bad, we save up for large purchases all the time. But if I save at the expense of living today, that's no good. That's not saving, that's robbing. And I can see that my love of numbers can turn me into a robber. So today, I'm going to be a giver instead. We'll see how that goes.

"If you are a thief, quit stealing. Instead, use your hands for good hard work, and then give generously to others in need." 
Ephesians 4:28 New Living Translation
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sweet Caroline by Kelda Poynot

  First off, my copy of Sweet Caroline  (aff link) is not a gifted review book, I spent my well earned Amazon No-Rush Rewards money on this book. Second of all, this is not my standard close door kind of romance. Third of all, this is a really fun read. Caroline is a hard working young lady that is doing all that she can to make ends meet and to get her graduate degree. Part of that work is renting out the room above her garage. When she answers the phone of an unknown number, believing it's a future tenant, she has no idea how much her life is about to change.  The young man on the other end of that call, Hashim, is tall, dark, and mysterious in all the right ways. The story quickly moves from the girl next door falling for a stranger to a fight for their lives. And in true real life fashion, those fights aren't just with external enemies but the ones we carry within.  It's an entertaining story of Caroline and Hashim, discovering their love for each other and fighting to
Post a Comment
Read more

Loving Disagreement by Kathy Khang and Matt Mikalatos

  If you're human, which I'm assuming you are if you found your way here, there will come a moment in your life when you're right and they're wrong and you're going to have to not win because the relationship is more important than your rightness It might be over where to go to dinner, which type of coat to wear for the weather, what ever it may be, you're going to find yourself there. Khang and Mikalatos have got together and written Loving Disagreement for that exact moment, especially if that exact moment isn't occurring with a loved one but with someone you encountered on the internet or maybe the break room at work, the where and who don't really matter because we can be loving towards anyone, even when we're not in relationship with the offending person. The book uses the concept of the fruit of the spirit to go through different ways to handle conflict. Khang and Mikalatos take turns writing the meat of each section but there's a quite enj
Post a Comment
Read more

The Edge of the Divine by Sandi Patty

I had my first experience with Sandi Patty when I attended a Women of Faith even a few years ago. The thing I remember most about her was her voice and her blonde hair. I did not know much of her history going into The Edge of the Divine , but after finishing it, I feel compelled to read some of her other books to find out more. Sandi had a lap band surgery about two years ago and in the midst of it, she learned a few things that she graciously shared with her readers. One of the recurring messages in the book is that God likes to make the ordinary extraordinary. God repeatedly uses the mundane to create the divine. Sandi talks about those moments as edges. The Edge of the Divine is not about her weight loss, but about the mind and spirit work that Sandi has been going through in the midst of weight loss. I am struck repeatedly as I think back upon the book of the phrase “I am enough.” She encourages us to believe that not only is God enough for us, but that we are enough fo
Post a Comment
Read more