Treasure

I had a paradoxical moment the other day as I was chatting with a nice salesman trying to convince me we needed his company's in-home security system. 

I told him that we're on a tight budget with not much wiggle room.  Usually when I throw in that Andrew is a public school teacher and I stay at home full time, these salespeople sorta get it but still persist.  They tend to think we really do have extra money but we happen to spend it in other areas.  Then I respond with these major examples of our frugality:  we have no car payments right, we only have one cell phone [and it isn't even smart!], and we don't have cable/satellite tv. 

And then do you know what I said to this nice salesman, who was quite surprised by my explanation?

 

"We have to live this way to support this lifestyle." 

I inwardly surprised myself after saying that.  What a paradox!  It just seems like when you say you need to support a lifestyle, it carries a connotation of spending on the fun stuff of life, not the sacrificial cost of a woman staying at home full time for the sake of her family. 

I'm grateful for this opportunity to stay at home, and don't really care that I don't have all those extras during this season of life.  I don't need any of it.  At the end of my life, I can't take anything with me anyway.

“Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse!—stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe from moth and rust and burglars. It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.  (Matthew 6:19-21 from The Message)

 My treasure is at home.  It's where I most want to be.  And I am here.