Your Best is Not For SavingWritten by Kalinda Rose Stevenson, PhD
Your Best Is Not For Saving My mother-in-law received a set of sterling silver flatware as a wedding gift. She kept silver in a wooden box on a top shelf. As far as I know, she only used silver on rare occasions when she hosted her women’s club. Then she would spend hours polishing tarnished silver. On holidays and family birthdays, she used everyday stainless. She said she was saving sterling for “best.” And so she saved her almost- never-used sterling for more than forty years, until day a robber broke into house and stole it. The thief was never caught and her silver was never recovered. What she had been saving for “best” was gone forever. In contrast, mother of my college roommate also had a set of sterling silver flatware she received as a wedding gift. She had also kept her silverware saved in a wooden box until day she asked herself why she was saving it. Then she moved wooden box down from cupboard and put it on counter next to kitchen table. From that time on, Carolyn’s family used sterling silver flatware at all of their meals. Besides enjoying her beautiful sterling silver every day, Carolyn’s mother gained another benefit from her decision. She no longer had to polish tarnished silver. Abundance Is Now These two related stories demonstrate intersection between abundance and time. Abundance is not just about money and material goods. A mindset of abundance always includes an awareness of abundance in present moment. Abundance is belief that right now you have more than enough. The greatest difference between an abundance mindset and a scarcity mindset is not what you have. It is about enjoying what you have in present moment. Every time my mother-in-law set table with her stainless steel flatware instead of sterling silver, she was saying to herself and everyone else, “This moment is not worth best I have.” She was saving her best for some indefinite time in future, which is another way of saying that she didn’t live in “now” of her life. In contrast, Carolyn’s mother used her best every day. She lived in abundance of her present life. Is Your Best On Hold? Were you taught to put your life on hold? Are you waiting until later to enjoy what you have earned? Are you saving your best crystal and china for someday? Do you have a box of sterling silver hidden away in your cupboards?
| | DE-FENCE AGAINST I-CAN'T- ITISWritten by Terry L. Sumerlin
It was a cool winter morning, and getting cooler. That morning, before I left for barbershop, I told Sherry that maybe yard work we had planned for next few afternoons should be postponed. The clock radio had said it was supposed to be very cold for a few days. It would be very uncomfortable out and might make both of us sick. When I arrived at shop, preceding thoughts and what follows became part of a conversation with a customer. I pointed out that our home is bound on one side by a concrete drainage easement and that our yard work involved replacing a small wooden fence in front yard along that easement. The replacement would be a split rail type. I also mentioned that, though I don’t have a clue about such handy work, Sherry does. She’s happiest when she has a building project. She was her daddy’s girl and he taught her well in such matters. In fact, he even taught her how to do minor auto repairs. In our early years of marriage Sherry worked on our cars. Those days, if it took fifty cents to go around world we couldn’t have gotten out of sight. So, she saved us money we really didn’t have. I should have been pleased. Generally, I wasn’t. I thought that it was not ladylike for her to do such things. And, since I couldn’t do them, my ego was bruised. As we sometimes do when our masculinity seems in question, I did manly thing and pouted.
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