Waste Not

"When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, "Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted." John 6:12

Wow! How is it I've missed this verse before, or that it didn't catch my eye before. Even Jesus himself was a bit on the frugal side. I do wonder what they did with all that leftover food. There were 12 baskets of bread and fish leftover. I like to think that Jesus picked out some of the poorest people with him that day and gave it to them. And I can bet that they didn't waste one crumb of their leftover miracle.

We have made no secret of being in a streak of very little money right now. But this verse just gives me an added boost to keep doing what we've been doing. We've been wasteful of very little lately. When we eat dinner and there are leftovers, I use those leftovers as much as I can until they are gone. It just makes good sense, and is something that now that I've learned, I can try to use even when we are doing better in the area of finances. When I look at the books from the past, it makes me cringe when I see how much money we've spent where. It's actually embarrassing to see how much I would spend on groceries in a one month period of time. And here, we've been doing just fine on a meager amount.

Now imagine, Andy is making more money and things are a bit easier financially. Imagine that we continue with the meager grocery shopping- and now look at all the extra money we have. Think of all the things we could do with that excess. We would be able to increase our giving like we've wanted to. We've wanted to hep support a few missionaries, but having the actual finances to do so have not been possible. We've also wanted to do more with things like the Food Pantry and other programs that help feed people. We could do it if we continue with the habits that we've developed over the last two months. We could easily do it.

I'm beginning to suspect a reason for going through what we have been going through. While we've always wanted to be savers for the reason of paying down debt, and saving to buy a big ticket item, I don't know how much it's occurred to us to save to give. Save so that when we see someone else in need, we can help them out as much as we can.

That's the thing with life experiences. Sometimes, we need to go through something so we know what it feels like. We've been tight on money before, but for the first time, a few weeks back, I literally had no money to go buy groceries. Payday came and went, and I could buy nothing. The next week I spent completely making stretch what we had, and you know, we did it. I managed, and we did just fine, but now I know how other people feel. I now know what it means to look in an empty fridge and wish I could just find $5 so I could go pick up something to make dinner. I know what it is like to be barraged with requests by my little ones and have to tell them that Mommy simply has no money.

It's been a tough lesson, but I daresay, the message has been received, and I do see a light at the end of the tunnel. For the first time ever, I have not been afraid to ask for help. I've graciously accepted anything someone offered us and treasured whatever it has been, because in my mind, it's been a gift from God each and every time. Even something as simple as a box of oatmeal just brightened my day. For God does provide both our needs and our wants. Sometimes, we just don't know that our wants are not what we truly want.

I pray wholeheartedly that as things improve here, this mindset will continue. When I think about how much we could help others in other parts of the world...well, it's an overwhelming thought, and I know that with God, it is more than possible, it's a certainty, as long as we continue to trust in him and his provision.