Strength for the Next Step

This is not really blog worthy, but it's a lesson I want to remember, so I'm blogging about it to capture the moment. I woke up this morning overwhelmed. I had been unable to sleep, and I knew I had a very long and busy day ahead of me. Just to give a glimpse, I was at work by 7 AM, worked all day, non-stop, left work at 5:00 to head to a Christmas in Action Board Meeting, left the board meeting to go shopping for an event at work two days from now, returned to work at 8 PM to meet the DJ and finish preparing for the Homecoming Dance, worked straight through the dance, cleaned up, cleaned my office, hung signs for tomorrow, and now it is 1 AM, and I am finally home! An 18 hour, non-stop day! No wonder I was overwhelmed!!!

I've really been trying to handle my stress better of late, and trying to view things as steps of a larger process is one way I'm doing that. Mike keeps telling me this all the time, but it's difficult when you are juggling multiple steps of multiple processes at the same time. I'm so glad God gave women the gift of multi-tasking! This morning, when the sense of overwhelming began to overtake me, I stopped and remembered to take it all in smaller steps. I first asked God to give me strength to make it through the day. I also remembered what we talked about last night in OT class, how God wanted to teach the Israelites that He would provide for their daily needs, that they could trust him to provide for their daily needs. That lesson was quite transferable to my situation. So, I changed my prayer from asking for strength for the end of the day to asking for strength for the next step.

And now, as I am home and preparing for bed, I choose to take a moment and reflect on the day. God answered my prayer. He truly gave me strength for the next step. And for that I am truly thankful. I serve an awesome God who knows and cares for my every need. Praise the Lord!

AIG: Who's To Blame?

Last night, I tuned into the news for the first time to find out what was really going on with the US Investment crisis. On Fox News, Sheppard Smith explained the reason for the fallout in one of the most consise ways I've seen thus far. I tried to find a screencap of that to post here, but it's 3:45 am, and I don't have the energy to really search right now. He showed a pyramid, that explained how the crisis begins, from the bottom with the housing lenders, all the way up to the top to the investors and AIG insuring the investors money.

The one thing that stuck out, though, was that everyone is looking for someone to blame. Some blame AIG. Some blame the Republicans. Some blame the Democrats. Some blame the government as a whole. Some blame the insurance regulators. I'm sure somewhere someone blames the stars not lining up correctly. The truth of the matter is, though, the blame lies with each one of us!

The blame lies with all of us that have perpetuated the myth of the new definition of the American Dream: that you can whatever you want, no matter the cost to you or anyone else. We apply this to material things, relationships, business, safety, security, peace, etc. It doesn't matter if you can't afford what you want or if it belongs to someone else. Just go get it. That's what America is all about. We have become a society of greed and selfishness. We have allowed our desire to "have it all" to cloud our judgment of what we can truly afford and more importantly, what we truly need.

I'm guilty of this myself. The computer I'm typing on right now, did I calculate the total cost, stop and seriously review my monthly expenses and spending habits, save money for a few months? No! I went to the store, found what I wanted, decided in a matter of minutes what I would give up monthly to be able to make the payments, and I went home with a new computer. All in the matter of a couple of hours! I wanted what I wanted and I wanted it right then! Did I necessarily need a computer? No...but it sure has come in handy and has made my life easier (until it crashed this past spring and I lost almost everything...then I realized how trivial everything was)! The advantage I had was I that I have parents who raised me with a great deal of fiscal responsibility. I understood that paying the minimum monthly payment on said computer would just end up costing me more, so instead of paying a monthly minimum, I payed a monthly maximum (all that I could afford) until the computer was paid off over a year before the original date! I'm doing the same with my car. However, I don't always do this, and I'm starting to realize that even the little things (such as eating out, trips to Wal-Mart, etc.) should be considered with such care.

It's when we spend what we don't have because of simple human greed that we find ourselves in financial trouble. I do not intend to address in this blog whether or not the government should have bailed AIG out. I will leave that for the professionals and the media. My point is simply this: we all hold some responsibility for this crisis. We should all stand up and take responsibility for this crisis by looking at our spending habits, making wise decisions when it comes to purchasing "the necessities," reevaluating our material needs. We need to teach our children to talk about these things with their potential spouse before they enter into a marriage relationship. We need to teach our children what it means to be fiscally responsible, by example and daily teachable moments. We need to remember what the American dream really meant all of those years ago: with hard work and dedication, you can accomplish great things.

Most importantly, though, we need to remember that all of our wealth, physical and spiritual, comes from one place: God! He has provided us with everything that we have and has promised to provide us with everything we need.

28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Matthew 6:28-30

It is only when we realize that ALL of our resources come from God alone that we can truly be good stewards of those things. We need to be an example for those around to us to be satisfied with what we have been so richly given, to find contentment, not in material things, but in our God.

But godliness with contentment is great gain. 1 Timothy 6:6

So I accept the blame! I accept the responsibility that comes with accepting the blame. I want to live my life in a way that is pleasing to my Heavenly Father. I want to use the resources I've been given to make an eternal difference. Perhaps that is the most important question we should ask before spending money. What kind of eternal difference will this purchase make? I think its time that we Christians in America humble ourselves before God and earnestly pray, seeking healing for our land.