Gathering in South Jersey

I've noticed that financial seminars, debt counselors, and money planning services are very popular today. Have you?

I think its a sign of "our financial times"--that money issues, and debt, and struggles in our current economy, have exposed many of our poor spending and saving habits. (Yes I did say "our".)

In this article by David Brooks, he talks about how a needed financial/fiscal revival cuts across all political lines. I agree.

Reading Brooks' piece, I reflected how my financial values were acquired. 

First, as a daddy to six children I've never been able to get too far afield from the virtues I learned from my parents and grandparents.

We buy in bulk. We shop at discount stores and buy used clothing. We save our pennies in a cool little web-based program called Finicty.

When we have enough, we spend it on something to which we've been looking forward.

For years we've had to say "no" to going out--the money simply hasn't been there.

I bought my first house (with help from my parents) in 1993 for $74,000. I wouldn't even have thought of buying a house with "no money down." That wasn't even an option, then, that I know of.

Twenty percent was the rule of thumb.

We don't owe any money on credit cards, and work hard to keep it that way. But we've had help along the way, too. It hasn't been "all about us."

Let me be clear: this list of "virtues" is not a brag book, by any means. When we've done well, its been by the grace of God and the help of others.

We've been taught by careful parents, friends, relatives, loved ones--and we've listened, most of the time.

Where we've done badly--and we have, many times--we have squandred our share of the income God has given us over the years.

These are choices we regret.

As far as grandparents go, my grandmother recorded what she ate in a notebook every day--and the price. She also saved buttons and thread, just in case.

Back in the mid-nineties, Grandpa Henry taught me one day on the way into a grocery store, "I'm never too proud to bend over and pick up a penny."

He said this, smiling, as he bent over and grabbed a penny from the parking lot and reached into his pocket for a coin purse that he always carried.

I don't always pick up pennies--sorry Grandpa. But my wife and I do think about money in the details and we seek to save wherever we can--we have to.

But, as I say, our financial times have exposed some cracks in our money handling practices, as I think they have for everyone.

Which brings me to "generosity."

Giving to church planting is something that many people haven't thought of before. For that matter, tithing to one's own church is more and more rare.

Some people have expressed their pity that I have to raise money in "our financial times."

I like to think of this rather as an opportunity. God has realigned a lot of our lives with the economy. Now's the chance for many people to get back to saving more, spending less. Giving more, keeping less.

What did Ben Franklin say? (I know, he's supposed to have said many things.) "Earn as much as you can. Save as much as you can. Give as much as you can."

The burden isn't on me, for fundraising. Actually, the burden is on the giver. Jesus said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." That burden of giving, of generosity, actually, is a blessing.