Money and our hearts

Wouldn't it be great if we could just talk about money objectively with our husbands, if making spending changes was as easy as crossing through the numbers with our red pens, if the balance in our checkbooks and savings accounts (and credit cards) didn't carry any more weight in our lives than the weight of the paper envelope the mail man brings us that tells us the good or bad news about our financial state of being?

But it is not so.  Because these matters are not only money matters, they are heart issues.  The proof that this is true is not hard to find.  I quickly get discouraged and even depressed when there is something I want to do or buy and then I find out whatever it is would not be a wise use of our money.  What I also find out is that my hopes are easily in the wrong place.  

I place my emotional well being in what I can do or buy.  You know, taking the kids bowling, buying them new summer clothes, preparing a certain meal, or stopping for ice cream on the way home from the beach.  All great things, but when I can't do them, my heart rears it's ugly head!  

This is why we find ourselves in debt while our savings accounts barely linger around- we need what we see now, it has to be ours or we feel depressed or sad.  In contrast, our spirits our lifted when we can dress our little girl in the cute dress at Gap Kids or take the kids to Disney World.  Our delight is in the things of the world, and not in God.

Let's strive to be more like the Psalmist who said, "Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?  Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God... Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling!  Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy, and I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God." (Psalm 42 &43)

Let's pray that God will expose the sin in our hearts that leads us to put our hope in our plans, in our way, and in that new pair of shoes.  For his grace knows no limit, and his love is more satisfying than anything offered in the nearby antique store or car lot.  Instead of drinking from those fountains, let's beg for the grace to again echo the Psalmist, who prayed, "As the deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.  My soul thirsts for God, for the living God." 

This is why unless you have redecorating in your budget it might be helpful to throw your Pottery Barn catalogue away.  You don't need inspiration when you are seeking to cultivate contentment for what you currently have.