"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal; But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal" (Matthew 6:19-20)
I worked as a Travel Consultant in an office until 6 days before Karli was born. Then I worked as a Travel Consultant from home until about 2 months before Drake was born. It was nice to have the extra money, but, I felt like I could not do either of my "jobs" the way I wanted to. I wanted to give them both my 100% and I just physically couldn't. So, my kids won and I became a full-time SAHM. As a result, over the years our budget has changed. Recently, things for us, just like for many others, have gotten "tighter" with the failing economy. I can tell you, though, God has absolutely been faithful. There have been times where I thought, "okay, I know You've done it before, but I just do NOT see how You are gonna pull this off Lord." Well, needless to say, He has never let me down or let us go without anything we have ever needed! Praise God. He is Good!
As a result, my kids know that we have a budget. We only have so much money and bills and food come first. There have been times when they have wanted to go eat out or go somewhere "fun" and it just simply was not in our budget and we had to say no. I hope through this they are learning the all-important lesson of you cannot spend what you do not have.
They are also learning something more important. They are learning how valuable those things are that don't cost money. Most of the time they would much rather sit around in the living room just visiting with Freddie and me. Other times we will all go out into the garden and pull grass and pick cucumbers or peppers or berries. They love to watch movies with us or play PS3/Wii together. After all, isn't that what really matters? When was the last time you sat around the funeral home and said, "I remember that dress she bought me. It was so beautiful. I loved that dress." I imagine the conversation was more along the lines of "I remember when we went to such and such and she did this and we laughed so hard we cried. I loved the times we spent together." At the end of it all, it is not the presents that mattered, but the presence.
So, when we die what do we want to have when we get to heaven? Things that we must leave behind that turn into no-things as soon as we arrive, or a relationship with our Heavenly Father that will only blossom and become more real and beautiful? I know what I want. I want to spend my time here growing towards my God so when I do get to heaven He knows who I am and recognizes me from our time spent together while I was here on earth. More than anything else, I want this for my kids too. I want to teach them here on earth how to have a relationship with God that is just as real as their relationships with Freddie and me. That way, when they get to heaven God will smile with pleasure and delight when He sees them again!
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