When a large portion of our population is hopelessly in debt, it seems some of us may well ask, "What in the world is going on?" Gram had a quick wit when it came down to everyday basics. She had hung, (one of many over the years) a cartoon strip on the breakfast room wall. It depicted two neighbors; obviously one did not know the other very well, as one asked the other where he lived. One gave a direct answer; "At 18 Elm Drive in the green house,” the other answered, "I live down the street just beyond my means."
I read that cartoon every morning for about three weeks straight, or at least until it was replaced by another strip. The funny thing was, we all knew Gram did not live beyond her means. If anything she lived beneath her means. Probably that was the one reason that cartoon stayed fixed in my mind all these years. If there was ever a frugal woman she was it. Queen of thrift for sure was she!
How many times did I hear, "Waste not want not." Money, per se', was never an issue— mainly because it was never talked about. I grew up knowing how to take care of what I had. Old bath towels became dishtowels and dishtowels became washcloths and don't ask what the wash cloths became. Well, okay, for one thing the lowly dish rag as they were politely called.
This system of using items for as long as they had an inch of life left in them developed in me a sense of respect for all things. Today we seem to live in a "throw away society." In my young adult life if I didn't have something I wanted and couldn't afford, I had already learned to substitute it for something I did have or could afford. In Gram’s day, being in debt was an embarrassment. The idiom, "Be not beholding to no man" was a virtue. Also just as important was don't be penny-wise and pound-foolish. As prudent as one could be about saving money the other side of the coin was don't put a Band-Aid on a dripping faucet. It ain't gonna work!
Not so many years ago one did not have, nor was expected to have, three or more coats for each of the seasons. There was the winter coat, the spring coat and the spring coat doubled as the fall coat. The same held true for shoes and clothing. Sunday best became school clothes and school clothes became play clothes and play clothes went the way of the humble dishrag.
One last thing... why do families move so often these days? I read that every four to six years the average family moves to another location. It used to be that the house you grew up in was the same house you left when you got married. I think there is something about a family staying in the same homestead that establishes stability in one’s life. Like "over the river and through the woods to Grandmother’s house we go" at Thanksgiving. We always knew where Grandmother’s house was. It was over the river and through the woods! All these old-fashioned notions may not cancel out our national debt, but I'll guarantee our own personal debt would be a lot less.
One of my favorite scripture verses is Luke 14:28. "For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it." If we are good stewards of what God has given us, we have assurance in Isa.55:13. "Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle." Did not Ruth, in chapter two, glean in the fields, and did not our Lord bless her greatly? Let us all endeavor to be the good steward that Ruth was and not live just beyond our means.
