Don't be frugal with everything

As I was working on my Sunday School lesson, I was reminded that we should not be frugal with everything in our lives. Some things are given to us in abundance and we are supposed to pass it on to others around us. The first thing is forgiveness. God, through his son Jesus, gives us unlimited forgiveness. If we have accepted Jesus as Savior, He will forgive our sins. We only have to ask. There is no work to do to earn that forgiveness, no process or class we have to go through. After we have received that forgiveness we are supposed to forgive those around us, but sometimes we get stingy with that forgiveness. We look down on the person who may be struggling with an area of sin in their life or we judge another person for their speach or actions. The Bible tells us that we are to forgive the way we are forgiven, without limit and without restrictions.
The other thing we should never be frugal with is our love. God loves everyone so much He gave his son Jesus over to a horrible death so that He could have fellowship with us. As Christians we receive that love and God loves others through us, as long as we don't get in the way. The Bible tells us to love our enemies, but I want to remind you to love those closest to you. There are many hurting people in this world and many are children. Maybe your child. Or maybe your parents. They need your love. Tell them, show them. If you don't personally know God's love, then please search out His love. This is a link to the Southern Baptist Convention - http://www.sbc.net/knowjesus/ . Many denominations have information on the web if you prefer another one. Don't be frugal with His forgiveness and His love.

Not always for ourselves...

I got up early this morning. I even got my children up early, in spite of their protests. I have a preteen who is in training to be a teenager and I think she could sleep half the day if I let her. We got up early so we could go help lay sod at church. Our church is erecting a new building and it was time to put down some sod around to help reduce the erosion. Since the church customarily pays part of the cost for the youth and children to go to camp, the youth pastor asked the youth to come lay sod in order to save some money. I went because I have children who will be benefiting from the camp assistance and because I am one of the youth teachers. I believe in teaching and leading by example.

We were muddy from head to toe. It was cloudy (which was a blessing) and there were a few light sprinkles, but just as we were finishing up the skies opened. My husband says you can only get so wet...well we were so wet. But as I was driving a couple of the kids home I was thinking that helping others is a kind of frugality. Time is money and sometimes I have more money than time. Since I have been staying home I have more time than money. Combine that with an willingness and ability to do work and you have something of value to offer.

In this case I donated that item of value to the church which allowed the church to save money, but in other situations that value could be bartered for other services. I can sew, but I am not good with things electric. I could trade mending or making something for the installation of a ceiling fan. We have become so used to paying cash (or using credit, unfortunately) for products or services we have lost the ability or desire to put value on our talents. We also fail to value the simple work of our body. It took no skill to lay sod today. That sleepy preteen helped as much as the teenagers she was working next to even though she had never even seen a piece of sod before. When I asked her the previous evening if she wanted to participate she quickly said yes and then asked "What is sod?" Use of simple labor for others helps them to be frugal too.