Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Visit a Junkyard

Steve and I re-did our budget last night, to account for all the changes since we first composed it almost two years ago (raises, house instead of apartment, dog, baby on the way--just little things :). My weekly discretionary money, sadly, got slashed. But in thinking about that, I was reminded of this recommendation from Randy Alcorn, author of The Law of Rewards:

Gather your family and go visit a junkyard or a dump. Look at all the piles of "treasures" that were formerly Christmas and birthday presents. Point out things that people worked long hours to buy and paid hundreds of dollars for, that...marriages broke up over. Look at the remnants of gadgets and furnishings that now lie useless after their brief life span. Remind yourself that most of what you own will one day end up in a junkyard like this. And even if it survives on earth for a while, you won't.

When you examine the junkyard, ask yourself this question, "When all that I ever owned lies abandoned, broken, useless and forgotten, what will I have done with my life that will last for eternity?"

3 comments:

rebekah said...

great post, amy.

but don't forget that starbucks really is more eternal than people might first think :) i try to remind myself sometimes that $4 is a very smalle exchange for a friendship.
and, yes, we could bring our little nalgene bottles of water to the park and walk and still build our friendship :) -- with the absence of the discretionary money :) much love.

Amy said...

haha, I can still do starbucks occasionally...maybe if I plan meals more carefully I can get that four bucks out of the grocery money ;)

Anonymous said...

What a great post! We definitely need to work out a budget- I can't imagine how things are going to change with two kiddos in the house!

It seems like you and Steve are going to be wonderful parents!