What if every dollar we earned had a name on it? Kirsten points out this question this week as we focus on Spending. Read a portion of her post below and then click through to read the rest on her blog. We’d love for you to add your voice to the conversation, too!
Just link up your post on this month’s topic below, or share in the comments!
{Via Kirsten @ Eight | Twenty-Eight}
Whether I spend money at seven stores or 70, what I feel most convicted about is how readily, and thoughtlessly, I spend at all. Certainly, curtailing the number of stores at which I could make purchases would eliminate a lot of frivolous spending. But the exercise from which I would glean the most is spending only in $1 bills. I would be forced to connect with each dollar, acquainting myself with whose name is on each.
Some of those dollars have my name and the names of my family members on them. God appointed some of them to be spent in care-taking for our needs. “Our enemy,” as John Stott said, “is not possessions, but excess.” As I count out each one — be it for the luxury of a new pair of shoes or the necessity of a week’s worth of groceries — I will be required to examine on whom I placed priority in that transaction.
Will I choose to indulge myself in luxury or be an answer to the prayers of whoever’s name is invisibly-inscribed on those dollars?
[…] thanks to Bloom (in)courage for featuring this post as part of the book discussion on ’7′- it was a privilege to share with your readers! Giving…With Just CauseBeing Boaz: Our Role as […]
wow. kirsten got me good. i’d have to say that this chapter (spending) was the chapter i felt most disconnected from in 7…until i read kirsten’s post. maybe it’s because i don’t earn much to spend excessively (though i still do). jen helped me to consider where i’m spending what God has made me steward of, and kirsten helped me to wake up to the meaning of a dollar. names, people, relationships, that’s something i value and linking that to the plasticized dollar really adds value to something i realize i’ve really taken for granted.
p.s. i’ve hesitated to comment and link up here over that past 6 weeks because of my perfectionist tendencies…but today, i just had to get over that: today’s discussion’s too good to pass up! and really, does anyone really care that i’m 2 weeks behind on my blog??? the norm is that i’m forever catching up, hehehe…
So glad she “got you good” 🙂 And we so love that you’ve stepped out and commented. Girl, no one cares that you’re behind because every one is! Just be you, we’ll love it!