What about Money?

Have you ever faced a Christmas without money? “Hah!” You say, “How about every month?” Right you are! What about every month? When money is so tight it squeaks, or so non-existent you can’t sleep at night, what do you do?

Do you reluctantly take out that credit card “Just to get by”? Do you borrow money, confident that next month there will be enough to pay them back? Do you pretend that there is enough to ‘go around’? So you keep going around: to the grocery store, the shoe store, the gas station, the pizza store. Do you delay paying a bill, hoping the next paycheck will miraculously have enough money for everything?

This is not the first Christmas, not even the first year that Americans have faced life with little or no money. What did they do? How did they do it? I want to know.


I remember being annoyed with my grandmother for reusing and saving everything. When I scoffed and complained about how she made me clean and save everything, too, my parents explained that she was a child during the depression of the 30’s. But surely families did more than reuse foil and save containers. So I did a little research via the internet.


First, I have to say I was impressed with some of the well-organized websites and interesting photos that have been posted. I am so appreciative of people who take the time and make the effort to put information on the web. Here’s a little bit of what I discovered about family life and getting by.


Many who had a mortgage lost whatever they had a mortgage on. Family farms that had been handed down for generations - lost. People from all walks of life found themselves walking; working long hours for miniscule pay; and wearing clothes until they could be patched and repaired no more. People ate what they had; they made do with far less than I can even imagine for myself or my child.


Some would take in boarders, housing and feeding them, in an attempt to hold onto their homes. Men were the original migrant workers. They would leave their wife and children for months to go in search of work, hopefully to return with money for their loved ones. I can’t imagine my husband doing that; but then I’ve never seen him that desperate for any work at all. It was happening to almost everybody and people helped each other. People traded and kept a garden, anything to provide the minimum for their families.


I think that’s probably a key point. They would sacrifice every nonessential, including their own dreams and desires, just to provide the bare necessities for their family. I ask myself, what are the bare necessities? A roof over our heads, heat and water, food and clothing and a vehicle are the basics that come to mind. But what about phone service, internet, cable, doctors, dentists and pizza? We might all agree on what the bare essentials include, but the difference is what each of us considers as the minimum. If I can afford my minimum, like ordering take out for dinner, then I’m good to go. If I cannot, I have some choices to make.


Perhaps it’s the thought that everyone else is doing better than me. Thinking no one else holds their breath when they open a bill only makes me feel hopeless and alone. Here is what I know, many of the people around me living in beautiful homes, driving nice cars, wearing nice clothes, are struggling to achieve their minimum. People are renting out rooms, taking second (and third) jobs, changing the way they live just to find a way to make it through. In essence, we are in the same storm, just different boats.


So, what is our anchor in times of trouble? Is there any reason to hope that things will get better? Is there anything or anyone we can trust to keep us safe in these times of uncertainty? Only the Word of God is reliable and unchanging.


Psalm 37:24-25 (NLT)


24 Though they stumble, they will never fall,

for the LORD holds them by the hand.

25 Once I was young, and now I am old.

Yet I have never seen the godly abandoned

or their children begging for bread.


1 John 2:15-17 (AMP)


15Do not love or cherish the world or the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him.

16For all that is in the world--the lust of the flesh [craving for sensual gratification] and the lust of the eyes [greedy longings of the mind] and the pride of life [assurance in one's own resources or in the stability of earthly things]--these do not come from the Father but are from the world [itself].

17And the world passes away and disappears, and with it the forbidden cravings (the passionate desires, the lust) of it; but he who does the will of God and carries out His purposes in his life abides (remains) forever.


Hebrews 13:5-7 (AMP)


5Let your character or moral disposition be free from love of money [including greed, avarice, lust, and craving for earthly possessions] and be satisfied with your present [circumstances and with what you have]; for He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!]

6So we take comfort and are encouraged and confidently and boldly say, The Lord is my Helper; I will not be seized with alarm [I will not fear or dread or be terrified]. What can man do to me?

7Remember your leaders and superiors in authority [for it was they] who brought to you the Word of God. Observe attentively and consider their manner of living (the outcome of their well-spent lives) and imitate their faith (their conviction that God exists and is the Creator and Ruler of all things, the Provider and Bestower of eternal salvation through Christ, and their leaning of the entire human personality on God in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness).

Dear Lord, please help me to keep my eyes on You and remember what the essentials are in this life: to love you, to care for my family, to be content, to love my enemies, and to love others as I love myself. I know I can’t do any of this on my own, please be my strength.  Thank You for watching over me and my loved ones. In Jesus name, amen.

Written by Mary Wilkins