11-7-14
So my wife is a cheapskate…
Like, “This apple didn’t taste good. Lets take it back,” cheapskate.
Like, “You bought TWO redboxes???” Cheap.
Like, “Who needs new jeans when I have these jeans that fit me in 2005?”
(She’s lost about 80 million pounds since then.)
You get it. She’s cheap. She prefers the term thrifty, but I think cheapskate has more pizazz.Today I had an epiphany about how my wife has slowly made me a better missionary to our city.Before we were married I used to eat out CONSTANTLY. I paid someone to mow my lawn. I got gas at the closest station because it was…well…close.
Today, I realized I (ME?) was mowing the lawn. I started about a year ago and we’ve already saved a huge chunk of money. Asking myself how this happened I also opined how the grass was not as green as it used to be. I then recalled my thrifty wife talked me into shutting off the sprinklers years ago. We eat out once a week for date night. We thrive off of hand me downs for the kids. We buy food in bulk and rarely waste it. We buy generic stuff whenever we can and we bake our own gluten free bread.
Why tell you all this stuff? Is it to tell you how goofy or awesome my wife is? Partly, however, there is more to it.
When you budget for food, you can budget for giving. When you budget for giving, God can use you in big ways. Now, I am not talking about giving ten percent to your church. Make that happen capt’n.
What I am talking about is generosity. We budget for generosity and when the moment comes we don’t have to talk to each other about it. The system works. (Barring a Simpsons, season one fiasco) There are no fights, no guilt trips and no waiting to ask till it’s too late. We thrift so we can be generous.
If you are terrible at this, start eating out one fewer time a week and setting aside what you saved for a day of generosity and you’ll see how cool it can be to give from what you have and not what you don’t.
-Dale