Perspectives on Frugality

I think we all need to get it in our minds that God promises to supply our NEEDS (not necessarily wants) and we’re commanded in the Bible,

“And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.” (1 Tim 6:8)

–everything else is an extra! If we really grasp how He blesses us SO MUCH MORE beyond what He refers to as the necessities for contentment, and we grasp how blessed we are beyond what others on this planet today, in 2007 are, then we can begin to focus on How good He’s been to us.

This week, my washing machine, dryer, sump pump, and furnace all decided to stop working, and my van is still on the fritz (we were trying to save up just to get that fixed). I was in what one could call a “foul mood” on Monday.

But then I got a letter from a friend of mine who lives in Central Europe (with a rent payment of twice my mortgage payment a month for an apartment the size of my living room), who wrote me via snail mail. None of this stuff had even happened at the time she mailed it! In her letter, full of birthday well wishes and updates on her family, she talked about riding the subway with the kids (She has no car), and about being at the laundromat the other day with two little kids, and her laundry, WITH NO CAR, and a rather humorous account in German about what that was like. It wasn’t that she was whining…she was just feeling led to tell me how blessed I was (In addition to wishing me birthday wishes). I of course felt like a worm when I was done reading it….LOL…and was on my face before God almighty, Jehovah Jireh, my provider!

Perspectives like that are the foundation to frugal living successfully…because too often we can fall in the trap of pinching pennies while getting testy and martyr-like and feeling all “Woe is me!” while missing just how blessed we are. So lesson number one is to look at how much God has blessed you. It’s foundational!! Attitude is everything.

The furnace is still only sometimes working….but I’m still blessed. The sump pump started working when I kicked it (sometimes those “old fashioned” repairs work best )…but I’m still blessed. The washer and dryer both had the repair guy look at them yesterday, and we paid him to fix them…but we’re still blessed, and praise God it wasn’t as much as originally quoted….still, I could just as well be packing everyone up on a subway today, with all of our laundry, to go to the laundromat and watch the clothes spin for a few hours. Thank You JESUS for washers and dryers in home.

Seriously, have you thanked Him for letting you have a washer? Are you thankful you don’t use a scrub board (or as one friend suggested–using a clean plunger in the bathtub to wash clothes?)? Are you glad for running water, for that matter? These things are not your right—millions live without it each day, and billions more down through history have not been blessed with the miracle that is indoor plumbing. Even Mary, His dear Mother, went without indoor pluming, electricity, washers, dishwashers, hair dryers (LOL), hot water, and so forth! Can you imagine having to trudge through the snow on a cold night to go to an outhouse? Girl, you are SO blessed if you’ve never had to do that!