Frugality is NOT a four-letter word

There is no doubt that the American economy continues to tank.  Personally, we have been staunching the flow of red-ink since we sold the house in Denver, but it will take time for us to recover our hard-earned nest-egg ... a nest-egg built when dh and I (before we even met each other) left our corporate ladder-climbing jobs to do what we believed (and still believe) was God's will for us.  In fact, that's what brought us together over 12 years ago ... so we must have been doing something right.

But now-a-days, if you tell people "Oh, we can't do that, we can't afford it" or "well, that's not in the budget this month" or "sorry, we don't have any money" ... the proverbial "they" think you're broke ... or are being overly negative.

Not at all.

Yes, I am on a budget.  Yes, I have to be careful with the resources God has given us.  Yes, I have to be frugal.  And, you know what?  I actually enjoy it.  I like thinking of ways to stretch a dollar ... either through inexpensive meals, creative gift-giving or simply by doing without.  These are not bad things. 

But American society would say differently, don't you think?  In this country, we've come to believe that if you don't take your kids out to fast-food joints at least weekly, you are depriving them of something.  If you don't buy them everything they WANT (not what they need, but what they want), you are being unfair.  If you make your kids (or yourself) wait till a special occasion to get something, you are being cheap.  If you have left-overs for supper, somehow you must be on the way to the "poor house". 

Me and mine are trying to re-order our priorities away from STUFF to a deeper something ... a deeper Someone.  We are trying to have less and do more.  We are trying to, in the words of Mary Englebreit, "Let Go ... Go On". 

As we finish off the last week of the liturgical year and begin Advent 2009 ... we seek the Way to happiness through a "less is more" mentality.  But we can't do it alone ... we need to use prayer to help us know the needs from the wants ... the must-haves from the nice-to-haves.  And God has that covered for us ... Jesus gave us His mother to help:

Before, by yourself, you couldn't. Now, you have turned to our Lady, and, with her, how easy it is!

– St. Josemaria Escriva, The Way, #513