Faith, Finances and Edgar Guest

It's easy to imagine the joys and the fun we could have with more money. Maybe a vacation, a new car or a bigger house. These are all on my list. I think, however, it would be hard to imagine what we, ourselves would be like with more money. Would we really save as much as we think we would? Would we still live frugally, looking for items on sale and only buying what we really need? And would our children have the same appreciation for the value of money? Not having enough money teaches us patience. We learn ingenuity and hard work as we find ways to earn money. We can become self sufficient finding ways to make a dollar stretch. And it teaches us to have faith in the future. Faith that things will get better. My life is full of examples of hard work and faith providing what I need. A few years ago when the housing market was booming my husband and I were blessed to buy a home for an excellent price from someone we knew. Having a home of our own has truly been a blessing that was unexpected in a high priced market. Whether rich, poor, or somewhere in between life presents financial challenges from having not enough or having too much. My family has been blessed and lifted up in the past. It will happen again.

I love this excerpt from Edgar Guest's, Making the House a Home:

"It is often through our struggles that our greatest growth is obtained.

Then a curious event occurred. I owed little bills amounting to about
twenty-one dollars. This sum included the gas, electric light, and
telephone bills, on which an added sum was charged if unpaid before the
tenth of the month. I had no money to meet them. I was worried and
discouraged. To borrow that sum would have been easy, but to pay it back
would have been difficult.

That very morning, into the office came the press agent of a local
theatre, accompanied by Mr. Henry Dixey, the well-known actor. Mr. Dixey
wanted two lyrics for songs. He had the ideas which he wished expressed
in rhyme, and wondered whether or not I would attempt them. I promised
him that I would, and on the spot he handed me twenty-five dollars in
cash to bind the bargain. If those songs proved successful I should have
more.

The way out had been provided! From Mr. Dixey's point of view, those
songs were not a success; but from mine they were, for they bridged me
over a chasm I had thought I could not leap. I never heard from that
pair of songs afterward; but neither Mother nor I will ever forget the
day they were written.

It meant more than the mere paying of bills, too. It taught us to have
faith--faith in ourselves and faith in the future. There is always a way
out of the difficulties. Even though we cannot see or guess what that
way is to be, it will be provided. Since then we have gone together
through many dark days and cruel hurts and bitter disappointments, but
always to come out stronger for the test."