Living In These Times,

The floors are still in need of being mopped and waxed and the bread hasn't been made yet, but I strolled around the garden and the flower beds without a tinge of guilt.

Matthew 6: 28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these" came to mind as I wandered from one flower to another, admiring their beauty.

With the way the economy is going, all kinds of advice is out there on how to cut expenses etc etc etc. You hear things like, "cut out the cable, or at least put it to basic, stop eating out so much, cook from scratch, open the windows in spring in place of using air conditioners and so on and so on.

Just change the way you look at how you find your entertainment, start looking for it in natures bounty. Send the children out to play. Go for a hike. Plant a garden, if you soil is bad, invest in getting some soil amendments brought in. If you are poor, check around, many cities give away composted materials and mulch, you just have to shovel it into containers or into a truck bed. If you live near horses or a dairy, they probably will share some manure with you. Compost ! A garden not only gives you food, it gives you exercise and rest for a busy stressed mind, chases away the hamster wheel kind of thinking.

Put up a clothes line, better for the environment and it gives you time in Gods creation. And the clothes smell so fresh and clean. Don't need to purchase the scent of fresh linens !!!!

Then sit down and ask yourself why did you feel the need to have so many channels on the television ? Why do you have to text 100 messages a day or a month or even a year ? Why do you have to shop so much ? Why do you continually change the way you do something which requires you to buy all new gadgets ? Why are you always seeking for more or different than what you have ? Which often ends up with you throwing out what you bought six months ago while you were on a different kick than you are now ? Most of the time you need to understand why you do what you do in order to change direction.

To save money, seek first, contentment and all the rest follows. Seek to have your spiritual life in order which will meet your emotional needs in a way far better than shopping and spending. Invest in peace of heart, spend time and energy on building better relationships with loved ones. Live your life with the mind of Jesus, who was a simple living man, and he teaches us to live simply, humbly and not for show. Instead of sitting down to hours of mindless television or hours of typing on the computer ( that was for me ). Tend the earth. Plant a garden, create a place of beauty, even if its on a balcony in the city or a window sill. Victory gardens exist once again for those that lack land. When we lived In southern California, we had a tiny yard, and still half of it was turned into a vegetable garden. Most of our neighbors had landscapers come in and put in a lot of cement and a few well placed plants. Not us, we had veggies and grapes growing. One neighbor of ours was from India and we loved them because they grew rice in their yard. They liked that we grew veggies and were not offended at all if they saw in our yard.

Think about it, it was in a garden that God first put man and woman. I think God is smart and knows what is best for us. The benefits are profound and balancing when you have a garden. I have a friend who is a quadriplegic and she has a garden, beds, raised high so the wheel chair can pull up along side it and she uses her artificial hand to slowly and tenderly weed her little spot. She lives in the city, a small garden spot of maybe 3' X 5 '. She laughs when she hears someone say they don't have the health to garden. With a garden you are not always trying new ways of eating, you eat what you pick ! So easy and so good for you and you save money. It has been with great pleasure we have watched Melanie and Casi plant their first vegetables and create beautiful flower beds. With all that is on their plate, and with Melanie's health issues they still understand the value of digging in the soil.

We don't need to run to the experts, we need only to turn towards the greatest teacher of all who tells us we need to live humbly and be content with the simple things.