I am here today to tell you that my loins are girted, and that's the truth.I have been poor. Truly poor. Never living under an overpass poor but that was probably only because I have a family to take care of me. But I have been poor. I was poor partly because we just didn't make enough money and partly because we managed that little bit of money really badly.
I have been so poor I bought a week's worth of groceries on $40. The Mr. used to ask me in this particular tone of voice on payday, "How much do you need for groceries?" That used to send my stomach into spasms of anxiety. What it really meant was, "What is the minimum you have to have to feed us?" To this day, I clench my jaw when he asks about the grocery bill. Thank Jesus for mac & cheese, four for a dollar back in the day. Add tuna; tuna casserole!
I have been so poor I did not have decent shoes in the winter time and wore canvas tennies claiming I like them. I have been so poor I went without a coat on a frigid Easter morning because it was not quite cold enough for my winter coat and that was the only coat I owned. I have been so poor I cried with despair and dodged phone calls from the electric company. I have been so poor the electric company phone calls stopped because my phone was shut off. Have you ever picked up your phone one morning and the line was dead? It is a creeping kind of dread as you realize that your service is shut off. Still makes my scalp crawl to think of it.
We're not poor anymore. We ain't rich but we sure ain't poor. We spend more than $40 for one Sunday dinner out now.
This morning I was catching up the laundry and I was reminded that I used to be poor and now I'm not and I was filled with thankfulness. I have not been doing my laundry for several days because of my gramma's illness and then her passing. So I was folding my laundry and I realized I have many, many pairs of underwear. I did not always have many pairs of underwear. I have had one bra that I washed at bedtime and line dried over night to wear the next day, having no spare. Time was, I could not have gone two weeks without washing my underwear or I would've been living commando.
Now I have so many pairs of underwear that I can go over a week without running out! This is luxury I tell ya!
I know money isn't everything, but it sure helps. Managing it well helps even more.
So today is a day of underwear praise!
Put on your good drawers and get happy!
Ephesians 6:14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness..
5 comments:
I could almost cry reading this. I can remember we ate mac & cheese and corn for every meal one time, I could make $30 last in groceries for 2 weeks. I did it once.
I think back on those days, and sister, even though it was tough, I went to bed hungry once or twice, we had some of the best times. I would use my income tax check to buy our yearly zoo pass so we would have something to do 'free' in the summer. Me, Phyl, and PBJ. We would sometimes treat ourselves to an ice cream cone. But not every time.
Those times have prepared me for economic times that are tight. They've prepared me for cheap spaghetti dinners at Fuel, and now at Alive. We went on our mission trip, and I spent 1/2 of the allotted money for meals (I prepared them all) with donations of the leftovers to a family who needed them.
I'm thankful to be thankful for those times and these times. You never know how God will use those talents.
Thanks for this post. in case I haven't told you today... I love you. xom
Picking myself up off the floor and needing to change my underwear from laughing so hard ..... "So put on your good drawers and get happy"??? (lol,lol,lol) .... There was a time when I was a little child that my mom was divorced and we were poor ... but somehow I never knew it. I had underwear with all the days of the week on them ... guess that's why I was so rich, eh???
Been there... When Tom was in the Air Force we lived on Mac & Cheese and Pancakes for days in between paydays!
As Mama and Daddy always told us when things didn't go our way...
"You've got the same ol' drawers
to get glad in"
I think that applies here!
Love you!!
....I worry that I'm headed there.
my underwear is holey - and I don't mean holy.
right now - living on a tight budget.
still - God is faithful.
always!
Your post is interesting, because I come from a poor country and we are survivors by nature, trying to get as much out of little. Being children of God we are stewards of whatever He has given us to use well and take care of others.
Many people here earn less than a dollar a day, and have to support their family.
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