Overcoming Busy

What Matters Most – Giving

June 23, 2011 by Marci

Today, we are blessed to have my friend Mandy from Pennies and Blessings share her perspective on What Matters Most.

————————————————-

Do the dishes.

Clean out the fridge.

Pay the bills due this week.

Check email.

On any given day of the week, this is what my to-do list looks like. There are usually many more items of daily necessities listed there as well, as I muddle through the responsibilities at hand. Between blogging, keeping house, raising children, caring for my husband, and managing our finances, my plate stays pretty full most days. Add in a few extras like gymnastics, soccer, and vacation Bible school, and I quickly find myself overwhelmed! In the midst of the busyness, I am forced to stop and ask myself What Matters Most?

Do I want to forever be scrambling through a to-do list, activities, and last minute bill payments? Is that the example I want for my children? What am I teaching them through all this excess, stress, and chaos?

{source}

Around here, finances, stress, and chaos seem to go hand in hand. We are continuously working around the financial demands of renting a home in one state and owning a home in another, as well as my husband’s unstable military pay due to the type of orders he is currently serving under. We live month to month, paycheck to paycheck, and it is rarely ever easy or stress-free. I am embarrassed to say that there have been many days that it consumed me ~ crippling my ability to be a better wife and mother.

This is most certainly not what I want to teach my children ~ about life, about finances, about priorities!

As with a schedule that is too busy, so came the time to trim back a budget that was too busy. My husband and I made the conscious decision to teach our children about finances, and to teach them through our example. We chose to work hard at eliminating bills and chaos, and rather make giving our number one financial priority.

For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; Luke 12:48b NKJV

Our family has been so blessed ~ blessed beyond measure. God did not give us so many blessings for us to squander them away while hustling from point A to point B, or crossing financial requirements off the list. Rather His continued provision and care for us are an invitation for us to do the same for others. That’s what we want our children to learn about finances ~ to give because it has been given to them!

Our focus has shifted from simply paying off bills to eliminating payments so that we can give in that same amount. When we reduced our cell phone bill by $25 a month, we chose to support some missionary friends of ours monthly for that same amount. When I began to consistently save us hundreds of dollars a month by couponing at grocery and drug stores, we increased our giving to our church, began supporting great charities such as Mercy House Kenya and Blood Water Mission, and asked each of our three children to choose a child to sponsor through World Vision and Compassion International.

We made a choice to change directions… Rather than always being consumed by where we have to be or whom we have to pay, we chose to making giving our family’s focus. Being used of God through our finances became what mattered most to us, and I pray that our children will see the eternal value in that choice one day!

————————————————–

Mandy is wife to her hero, mom to three blessings, and daughter to the King of Kings. She is also an avid writer, coffee-lover, and Jesus-worshiper. Mandy can be found regularly at both her personal blogs – Pennies and Blessings where she shares ways to save money, spend wisely, and live well; and at Brokenness into Beauty, a site focused on the beauty in the miraculous reconciliation her family has experienced.

———————————————-

Hope you are enjoying the What Matters Most series that will run all through the month of June. You will get to hear from 12 different bloggers and get their perspectives on What Matters Most to them.

Want to share What Matters Most to you?? Overcoming Busy will be hosting a link-up on June 30th so we can all read the reason why you want to overcome busy! In the meantime. grab the “I Know What Matters Most” button on the sidebar for your site and help spread the word about the importance of focusing on What Matters Most, not the stuff that really doesn’t matter.