Just a Little Bit More

"I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need." Philippians 4:12
               
"Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.”            Proverbs 27:20

"Just a little bit more," is what John D. Rockefeller answered when asked how much money was enough. How enlightening those five little words are. I remember the first time I heard that story was several years ago while I was at college. Those words have stayed with me ever since and I am reminded of them occasionally when I begin to feel unappreciative of what I do have, because of the "better" things I don't have. I was once again reminded of this today at the pool with Emily and Joseph. She recently visited her Grammy and Poppy and came back as rotten as the kiwi fruit stinking up my kitchen. We could really tell on the way home from church on Sunday evening when she said she was hungry, to which I replied we would be home soon and would eat then. To which she replied, in a somewhat whiny voice, "No let's GO somewhere and GET something to eat." My husband and I looked at each other with knowing grins that said, "we know where that came from." So back to the pool. She has a few McDonald’s toys from her weekend with Grammy and Poppy that are her new favorites. Well, I took them away this morning as punishment because instead of eating her breakfast like I asked her to, about twenty times, she "dropped" about half of it on the floor beneath her chair. So I told her she was having a time out from her toys and that she would get them back later today. A couple of hours later we headed to the pool, usually we take toys to the pool, several times she started to ask me about the toys to which I replied that we weren't talking about that. She did pretty good at not asking a million more times (which has been her habit lately) so as a surprise I slipped them in the bag and off we went. I told her in the car that I had a surprise for her. When we got to the pool after patiently waiting as I put my sunscreen on, I told her to look in my bag and so she did and found her confiscated toys. So she looks at me and says not, "Thank You," but "Is there another surprise?!" And I'm just looking at her.... Seriously that's when you know she's got too many toys. And I know she's only four, thankfully it's not too late to turn that ship around. But I began to think of a time just a few weeks ago in my own life, where I think God may have been looking at me thinking "Seriously?" We still have some of the "originals" as we call them, the towels we got for our wedding shower 8 years ago, they are still holding out, but they're down for the count. We have added a few here and there over the years, but not many. Just a few weeks ago my grandmother gave us a whole new set of towels. My husband and I were talking about this one evening and he mentioned how we didn't need any more towels, to which I may have nodded my head (note the "may have"), but inside I was thinking at a later date I'd like to purchase just a couple more. I surely didn't tell him that however. But God heard it. He's the one who, through my grandmother, provided us with the towels. (note here, as exemplified by my grandmother, one way to show God you appreciate what He has given you is to give to others in need) I wonder if He was thinking the same thing about me as I was about Emily. Something along the lines of "Look what I have given you, don't you appreciate that?" I have noticed this in my life. I'll buy a new outfit, and walk out really liking my new outfit, but still thinking about that shirt I'd like to go back and get. It seems there will always be something else out there to obtain, something we want but can't have so what do we do? We try and get what we want, but can't have. If you're not careful you can become consumed by it. On a smaller scale maybe we spend money we don't have or time that would better be spent for God than for ourselves. Hubby gets paid at the beginning of the month, and boy do I, feel rich. By the end of the month we're poor again. It's kind of a joke in the house that when we abound we really abound, and when we are abased, well.... We joke that if I didn't feel so rich at the beginning of the month we wouldn't feel so poor at the end of the month. We have learned some lessons along the way, and God who has always provided for us, continues to do so, though sometimes in very creative ways. Leave it to the Creator!