Christmas Cash

For the love of money is the root of all evils, and some people in their desire for it have strayed from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pains. ~1 Timothy 6:10

Luckily for me, its pretty hard to love something you don't have.

Equally lucky for me is that God, in His Wisdom, Mercy and Grace, always seems to provide for us exactly how much we need, when we need it, even when it seems as though we won't be able to make it (for example, when the Army goofs on your pay so you have a $0 end of month paycheck. Not that this would be happening to us at the moment, or anything like that).

Its just hard for me, especially at Christmastime, to cope with such restricted funds and spending, because my love language is totally gift giving.

I LOVE buying and giving people gifts. Even strangers. Its just so darn fun.

Well, not strangers who won't get back to you with their addresses after weeks of asking, so that you can send them a box full of goodies. Then, I start to worry that they don't want my gifts and get superparanoid. But, hopefully, that will work itself out soon. :)

Anyways, I genuinely enjoy buying others presents (and of course love getting them too :-p), and I even tend to buy the Boyo little "treat-ys" when we're out - a $1 matchbox car here, a little snack-y there, etc.

Thus, a tight Christmas just makes me kind of sad. Even homemade gifts for family, which trust me, I've been doing, cost money for supplies, and I feel like I can't buy slash make the kinds of things that people deserve for being a great fill-in-the-blank-family-member.

Be that as it may, this is the Christmas that God has laid before me, the one for which He is calling me to prepare my heart, crosses and all. So, I am greatly in need of spiritual peace and gratitude for what I do have and am able to give to others and be happy with my widow's mite.




Lord, grant me peace and patience with the many gifts that You have given to me. Help me to always remember the Holy Family, who had so very little and gave the world so very much. Help me to grow in Your joy and love this Advent season. Amen.

Holy Family, Pray for us.