Measured Differently

I've been thinking a lot about money lately. How it's spent. How it's saved. How it's used. How it uses. How it becomes a topic of conversation. How we say we don't care about it. How we pay $1 for a chance. How some have so little. How some have so much.

So much about money is relative. We talk about what we'd do if we had more and how sad we are when we have less. I thought about this today...it takes me roughly $45 to fill my car up. I HATE going to the gas station but if I want to get from point A to point B it's a must. Well, $45 in the grand scheme of my overall purchases is nothing. However, it's HUGE to someone else. Some people barely make that in a month. What I just spent on gas...would've covered someone else's food, clothing, shelter, etc. My best friend, Lana, was on the kiva (Kiva.org lets you lend money to entrepreneurs in developing countries - empowering them to get themselves out of poverty) website. She was looking at a man who needed just $25 more dollars to purchase a vehicle..that vehicle was so important because he's a taxi driver. I think total he needed 1,000 dollars. It made me stop and think. How unfair. Even on my "poorest" day...I still have so much.

I think even when you are considered wealthy...the ones you typically think of-big houses, big cars, expensive things it's so relative. Someone recently said, "I think BMWs are a waste of money...do you know what one could do with that money?" I threw this question back at him, "What could you do with yours? Don't you buy a pack of cigarettes every other day? That's $5 a pack. What could you do with that money if you didn't spend it on cigarettes?" In all fairness, I need to ask myself the same question. Itunes is my weakness...yeah, it's only .99...but do you know what someone else in a developing country could do with .99? Plus, .99 quickly adds up.

My goal is to give more than I take. I'm so far from that. But I'm in luck...I like long term goals AND I like a challenge.:) I budgeted this weekend...wow. Overall, I discovered that I am much more of a taker.

Think about where you are in your financial situation. Where could you cut back in order to give someone else a richer life? I'm going to ask myself several questions before I purchase something in the future:

~Do I need it?
~Will I still want it tomorrow? Next week?
~Is this the best way to spend my money?
~If I save this money what could I then use it on?

These are important questions to ask I think. More importantly, I want my purchases to MEAN something. The way I see it-if I truly believe that it's God's money then I need to choose better ways to spend it. Ways that glorify Him. Ways that help others. Ways that matter.