You Is Here

The story goes of a traveling salesman lost in back roads. He sees a young boy, stops the car, rolls down the window, and says, “Son, I’m lost and need to get to such and such a place. If you could tell me where I am, I could check the map and figure out how to get there.”

The boy looks up, astonished, “Sir, you is here.”

Starting from where we are is basic to any endeavor. The widow faced with her creditor was asked, “What do you have in the house with you?” And though God made all things ex nihilo, and can do it again any time He pleases, it’s not the normal way of things.

Where are your finances? What are your skills? Your personal connections? Your stuff? Your energy levels?

How can you get the best bang for the buck? Like the fellows given the minas, if you work with what you have in hand, you receive more to work with later, but if you shove it under a bush in a napkin, it all gets taken away.

So where are you?

Carrot On A String

Most cheapskates are sick of the same tired advice. (Remember the latte factor, pay yourself first, have a six month emergency fund, cook from scratch, get a side hustle, pay off high interest loans...). The counsel isn't bad. It's only frustrating because it doesn't 1) apply, or 2) deliver the promised "life will be wonderful when you're done" payoff. A carrot dangling on a string. Always out of reach.

I once criticized my dad's colleague’s work. He responded by putting himself in the other guy’s shoes. "No one sets out to make bad sculpture". This has financial implications. You do the best with what you have in hand. Skills, money, information, energy, and time are dropped off in various amounts at different seasons to various folks. It’s all a matter of using it. We all know spendthrifts, when confronted with the “latte factor” concept for the first time, have an epiphany. Those of us who cut costs wherever possible, and still tread water, look for more edgy ways to reach the magic carrot.

Should we seek the carrot at all? When, if after having done all we can, we still can’t retire, can’t give as we’d like, can’t help our kids more, and just get by, are we stupid, irresponsible failures? Sure, “the plowman ought to plow in hope”, so goals in themselves aren’t evil. But if we are faithful now, and God still doesn’t “bless us” here, is that wrong?