Money, Money, Money, Change, Change, Change

“Money,  it’s a gas.  Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash.” These were popular lyrics by Pink Floyd. In my childhood home,  there was a ceramic message in unambiguous black and white, “If We Don’t Have it, You Don’t Need it.” I would look at the placard during random trips through the kitchen. Its words became incorporated into the fabric of my being.

Fast forward. Now I’m married with one child, Kathryn, bouncing curly hair and energy,  creating  constant motion. My husband owned his own computer shop. He was brilliant with computers and a hard worker. Despite his best efforts,  the company was not making the profits hoped for. In fact, the company sunk deeper and deeper into debt. I would spy, incrementally, the damage at 20K, 40K, 60K , 80K and beyond. Fear of lack would come bubbling to the surface.  My heart would break and concern for the future became tangible, “How long will this continue? Where is the bottom?”

I prayed hard. I petitioned for the circumstance to change, “Fix this!” It seemed the more earnestly I sought relief, the worse the predicament  became. Then, I hatched  a rather brilliant idea, “Father, the redundancy of, ‘fix this’ appears to be missing the mark! If this situation never ends, then change me. If we never have a decent income then change me. Change me. Please!”

It was as if bells and buzzers went off in the heavenlies. I could imagine God telling me, “Yes, beautiful daughter. That’s it! That’s the prayer I desired all along! It will work in a plethora of circumstances! Use it, Deborah. I will always answer that prayer.”

He began to do just that. One conversation I recall quite vividly,  “Deborah, how many pairs of shoes do you own?” I rushed to the closet and began counting. One, two, three…six.

“Father, I have six pairs of shoes.”

“How many do you need?”

“At a bare minimum, I need one.”

“You live in abundance.”

“Deborah, how many cups do you own?”

I scurried down the stairs, opened the kitchen cabinets and began to take inventory. One, two, three…..thirty. “Father, I own thirty cups.”

“How many do you require?”

I thought about that.  I was familiar with The Little House on the Prairie series, I knew the pioneers sometimes  shared one cup among family members. Kathryn, Dante’ and I could take turns. “One. At bare minimum, my family  could all use a single cup.”

“You live in  abundance.”

As my circumstance seemed painfully stuck, God graciously changed my perspective. Viewpoint  is a powerful thing. I had been focused on how much money we owed, God wanted me to feel blessed because of all that already belonged to me. I have heard it said,  “If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof over your head and a place to sleep…you are richer than 75% of this world. If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a a dish someplace…you are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy.”

Many people in varied countries will bathe and drink from the same stream. They will spend today wondering about their next meal. We, in the US, are surrounded by luxuries, gadgets, and creature comforts that the kings and queens of yesteryear could never even have imagined. One might conclude, “We don’t need more stuff. We need to be more grateful.”

My sister, Barbara, experienced the devastating loss due to a fire sparked by lightning as her family was on vacation. The entire contents of her home were lost due to smoke damage. I would not by any stretch consider her extravagant, nor materialistic. However, the grave task of recording each and every item lost in the time before smart phones (Remember that? lol)  was grueling to be sure. As a professor at a community college,  she, thankfully  had her summer calendar cleared. She toiled to account for every rubber band, pencil, panty, shirt, piece of artwork, ect… She worked it as a full time job. It took her weeks to do that. Think  about that! An average American home has so many items it takes about six weeks of full time work just to count what we possess.

What area of your life do you feel you are lacking? It does not have to be your finances.  Try to get out of your rut and gaze at that area for a new perspective. On purpose, consider what you DO HAVE. Write it down. Thank  God for it. Start with an attitude of gratitude. If your circumstances are difficult  and trying,  don’t  be scared to fire up this handy prayer, “Change me!” If you do, sit back and watch what happens over the course of the  next few months. You might find you have a new attitude, or outlook.  You might even be in the middle of learning new skills, like we did,  in order  to pay off every  last cent of that debt!