Nxtstp Blog Frugality Meets Extravagance

My parents spoke of the great depression, and although I never lived through it, during childhood, money was pretty tight and I was taught well how to "pinch a penny". A lot of my piers have changed, but not me, I still believe "a penny saved is a penny earned", and "waste not, want not". Everybody seems to be in a hurry and can't even wait 4 hours for jello to set up-instead they pay 5 times as much to buy those little premade cups and they don't even have fruit in them! Perhaps, I do go overboard. I purchased celery the other day right after the thunderous shower sprayed the produce with fresh water. As I shook my celery vigorously, (apparently showering several folks around me), my husband Bob questioned it and I told him I didn't want to pay for all that water. He laughed so hard, he created a scene. He said, "Sharon, a gallon of water weighs about 8 pounds, I think we can afford a couple ounces."I am always amazed at how God's word brings balance into lessons of our every day life. His Word teaches us to be good stewards of what we have, but today's scripture reminded me that there is time to be frugal and a time to be extravagant: Now when Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at the table. And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, "Why this waste? For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor." But Jesus, aware of this said to them, "Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. For you will always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. In pouring this ointment on my body she has done it to prepare me for burial. Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her."Father, teach me to be wise. I want to be a good steward of all that You have entrusted to me. There is a time to save and a time to give-- to pour out of my resources with reckless abandon, whether it costs me little or much; whether it costs me of my time and energy or of my financial resources. I desire to have Your heart , Your love and Your faith to know that all I have is Yours and that You are my source-my Jehovah Jirah.The same mom and dad that taught me to pinch a penny so hard that it says, "ouch", also quoted and lived by this verse from Proverbs 11:25: "The generous soul will be made rich, and he who waters will also be watered himself." Written by Sharon Dailey