Article by Judy Mosley

We knew they were coming.  They’ve arrived at our address every year for the past five years.  Their arrivals have always been expected.  Yet every year, their arrival would cause both my husband and me grief and stressful frenzy.  But not today. For the past year, we have been preparing for their coming.

 

So now, they are here, and we’re ready for them. They are our house tax bills.

 

Two years ago, as part of our Sunday school class, we went through a financial series using the resources of Dave Ramsey.  My husband had a good job and we had been slowly letting go our material-for-pleasure mindset.  But after this class, we decided to redefine everything when it came to money.  And I can truthfully say that Dave Ramsey set us on a path of financial freedom that we had never experienced before. 

 

One of the principles we employed was using a cash system.  The basic principle is to take cash out, each month for the things that you need right away, and to store cash away for future bills. 

 

Our most stressful bills were our house tax bills.  We would always “forget” to save up for them until they appeared in our mailbox and we would struggle to figure out where we were going to find the money to pay them.

 

But not this year.  We have been taking out a certain amount of money each month to pay these bills. So when I walked to the mailbox today, recognizing the intimidating envelopes, I smiled instead of cringed.  I laughed, instead of cried.  Because I knew that we already had the money, stowed away, ready to be put in the bank at the right time.  The feeling was liberating.

 

So what is luxury?

 

The other day, I was driving my “new-to-me” van and thinking, “I can’t believe we have this van!” I have not enjoyed a vehicle this much since my very first car.  Now our van is not really new.  Only one CD can fit into the player which also includes a tape player.  There’s no sun or moon roof.  The doors don’t automatically open at the press of a button.  There’s no alarm (to my knowledge) that will go off

if someone breaks into it.  But what it does have is room for all my children … and a couple more stowaways should we decide to pick up any.

 

And we don’t owe a dime on it.

 

All we have to pay for is the gas to make it run, the taxes that the state requires, and the parts should anything need to be repaired.

 

To me, that is luxury.  When I have the choice of spending my money on something else, other than a car bill every month … well, that is freedom.

 

This year, I’ve learned that I have everything that I need.  It may not always be the best, the newest, or the shiniest.  But what we have is good.  It’s real and it’s true.

 

We have love.  We have hope for the future.  And we have joy in the presence of each other.  Every day, I’m blessed to see my children rush to the door when their daddy comes home.  Every day, I have the ability to wake up and breathe the first morning breath, even though I may be tired from caring for my little baby.  Every day, I have the chance to do something for the world that God has given me.

 

And that helps me to remember that my life, among the rest of the human race, is valuable because we are His creations … Individual and beautiful.

 

It’s not about how much you have, but what you do with it.  Think big.  Prepare for the future.  And rethink luxury.  The real luxury that I am enjoying today is not worrying about my house taxes.  And that feels really good!

 

PS - If you haven’t been watching the new Ken Burns film, “National Parks: America’s Best Idea” on PBS, you are really missing out.  To see these remarkable parks, rich in their beauty and glory, you begin to realize how much we have … and how rich we are as American’s to have preserved these amazing places.  We’ve already started making a dream list of which parks we want to see.

 

“We’re so engaged in doing things to achieve purposes of outer value that we forget that the inner value, the rapture that is associated with being alive, is what it’s all about.”
-Joseph Campbell

 

“Man must feel the earth to know himself and recognize his values … God made life simple. It is man who complicates it.”
-Charles A. Lindbergh

 

“May we never let the things we can’t have, or don’t have, or shouldn’t have, spoil our enjoyment of the things we do have and can have.  As we value our happiness let us not forget it, for one of the greatest lessons in life is learning to be happy without the things we cannot or should not have.”
-Richard L. Evans

 

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