He Provides

On Saturday, Joe and I decided to purchase new appliances for our kitchen. Our fridge was starting to malfunction, as well as our overhead microwave. All of our appliances are about 10 years old, and we had been talking about updating them for the future sell-ability of our house. Since we probably won't move for three years, we thought we could at least enjoy them (rather than just buy new for the next owners!). Anyway, we shopped around for the best deals, and found a set at Home Depot. We also wanted a new washer and dryer, as ours are also 10 years old, and the dryer kept putting little burn lines on all of our light-colored clothes. But, we decided to wait on those.

HOWEVER. The very NEXT day, we were washing clothes, and the motor that drains the water out of the washer died. We have a washer full of water and wet towels. So, on Sunday, Joe and I went out shopping for a new set. Since we will probably take this set with us when we move, we went for higher quality than what we did in the kitchen.

Last night, I was a little nervous about paying for the washer/dryer. We had the rest figured out, but not necessarily the W/D. WELL. Joe called me from work this morning, and told me his company is giving them a profit sharing check. We kind of knew this, but didn't expect it to be very large. WELL. Come to find out, it is going to cover the W/D and then some. NICE!!

God provides.

On another note, I was thinking about how and why I feel a little guilty for buying better-than-bottom-of-the-line products. I guess this comes from our younger married days (and maybe my childhood), when we had SQUAT, and I worked very hard to scrimp by to have what we did have. Now that things are better for us financially, I have still have a frugal mentality. While I think that being frugal is still very important (I never buy anything full price, or fancy shmancy), I need to not feel guilty for buying a top-of-the-line product. Because, MAN, we bought this awesome vacuum cleaner a couple of months ago, and see, I have ALWAYS bought the cheapest I could get. THIS vacuum cost way more than I would have normally spent, but I have SO ENJOYED how it cleans! It actually fluffs up my Berber carpet downstairs, to where it feels fluffier under my feet, which also means it's sucking A LOT of crap out.

I'm realizing that when you do pay more for something, you really do get a better product. Once I have it, I enjoy that it works so well, but it's still hard for me to spend the cash. I'm going to admit that the washer and dryer we bought is a Samsung electronic front loader. It has stainless steel inside both drums, too. I can't believe they're so nice. I think I made myself feel better by not buying the "pedestals" that go underneath them, but I think I will end up buying them anyway. I want to get over the fact that we spend some cash on this W/D, and rejoice in the fact that God provided for us to have them. I want to enjoy the heck out of them.

Things are just things, and I have a healthy perspective on that. But, why can't I get over having NICE things sometimes? In the long run, I would probably spend less money if I buy quality stuff in the first place, rather than keep replacing crappy stuff. I guess I just remember having NO money, and the crappy stuff was all we could afford. And, I think about others who have great needs......

I probably should think about this in terms of a father giving a gift to his kids. Would a child say, oh dad, I would rather have a used, ugly bike than this gorgeous, shiny brand new bike? Probably not! And, probably, the dad would feel hurt that the child didn't want the wonderful gift the dad wanted to give. I think of the verse in Matthew 7:9 that says : "Or what man among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a snake? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!" I think the point is clear. God wants to give us good gifts! It doesn't always mean material things, but it sure seems to me that God would want to give us GOOD things!

I'm going to thank God today for everything that I have. Top of the line or not. The reason I have ANYTHING is because of Him. And, I'm going to work on not feeling guilty about any of his gifts.