Although, I'm not incredibly concerned that I'm thousands of dollars short in the amount of money I need for school, I must admit to a little bit of apprehension. It's not easy to go a couple of provinces away from home knowing full well you don't have enough to make it through the year. Being at camp helps to keep me from spending what I do have. However, when it comes to thinking about things I'd love to have (ie. a digital camera!) I get a little frustrated about my lack of funds. Why does it seem like our whole lives revolve around money? I'm not suggesting that we dwell on it every moment or that it's in any way the most important thing in our lives. That would definitely be wrong. But if you think about it, money is a rather big part of our lives. Without money, we can't eat, we have nowhere to live, we can't be formally educated, we can't get clothes, we have no transportation, and, in some places, you can't even use the toilet without sticking a dime in! I am personally tired of adding up the numbers and seeing if I'll have enough for school. I'm tired of thinking about things I'd like to have and wondering if it's okay to buy them or not.
All this was going through my head the other day as I contemplated buying a digital camera. My frustration about money led me to wonder if I could ever live without it. Would it be possible to spend a year or even a month without using any money? (And living at your parent's house doesn't count!) I don't know if it's right to "test" God like that. And it's not likely that I'll ever try out this experiment that went through my head. But I'm sure there have been people who have had to live from day to day wondering where their next meal was coming from. Or wondering if they would be able to buy new clothes to replace tattered, holey ones. It would take such incredible faith to go from day to day trusting that God would provide.
In conclusion, I'm not a big fan of money.... I'm thankful that God continually supplies me with jobs, even before I really look for them! And I've determined not to "worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself". I'm also thankful to live in such a wealthy country. Although, sometimes I think it would be easier to live somewhere where I had only to think about buying food and clothing and not digital cameras and internet time!
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5 comments:
I have the solution... You should charge people a buck to read your blog.
Patman the Pat
just thought i'd comment here.. it's interesting to note that while Jesus was fasting, and being tempted, He said something very profound: "man does not live on bread alone but on every word from the Father." this, i believe, is to indicate that we can be physically nourished by reading the Bible and listening to God.
You know, I've been contemplating the money issue a lot lately too. See, I've been reading through the new testament and our focus should never be money...at least this is the impression I'm left with...a friend once told me the value of money and how we need to work and do all that in order to make money to better serve God...it just seemed like a lot of focus on money and so I commented saying: "Dude, rich people....not so popular in the kingdom." (refering to the comment Christ made about it being easier to fit a camel through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven, and also that Christ often told people to sell all that they had in order to follow him)
And lately I've been faced once more with this money thing...see, with a debt over my head and a wedding coming up it's hard not to think about money and how I need it...many times I must admit, money becomes a focus in my life...and recently I realized what it is that I want to do more than anything and that my debt is the only thing in the way of me doing it really...Also I note that Paul and many of the disciples seem to be wandering around most of their life sharing the Gospel and yet they don't seem to worry about money...
Maybe it is like this:
The God of creation, who created the tree and the plants, from which pulp and ink were able to be extracted and made, which in turn led to money being created, thus making God in a way even the creator of money CAN in fact make money out of nothing and maybe I should not worry about my monetary needs because Christ can make it out of nothing and can provide for my needs.
Hey Astro,
I'm not sure who you are, but thanks for your comment!
Thanks Jen! Sounds like an autobiography worth looking into!
I miss you, too! I hope to see you sometime soon!
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