Want to be Free?

Most Americans view themselves as Free. They live in a country where most anything they want they can have. They have access to fresh drinking water, food, and as many gadgets as they can get their hands on. To some this is what it means to live. They can’t imagine their life without a Smartphone, internet, Facebook, and Starbucks. But are they truly free?

To have everything that makes their world complete they work overtime, after hours. Or they not only work one job but several. They work really hard to spend their money on lots of things. They take exotic vacations but the whole time they are either still thinking about work or actually working because they feel that their position will fade away if their bosses think that they can live without them for a week or two.

I don’t believe this is what God (YHVH) wanted for his people. He wanted us to be nomads, shepherds, farmers. Only then can you truly appreciate where your food, clothing, and warmth comes from. I am not saying sale all you possess but appreciate the time you spend with your family and in worship. The human body needs rest. It can only go at full force for so long before it gives out. Can you keep up or will you search out enhancements to keep up your energy and strength?

Fountain of Youth can we find it?

You can get out of the rat race. Simply by taking a closer look at you expenses can help you stare to purge the things you don’t need so that you can start spending more time at home with your family instead of at work with people you don’t even like doing a job that takes more than it gives.

We did this for our family. At one point my husband and I were both working. We loved our jobs so that was ok, but there came a time when my husband’s health was getting worse. On top of that he had a new boss that was not allowing for lunch time or any breaks. I spoke to my husband about my idea of him quitting his job because I didn’t want his health to decline. In other words I wanted him alive not dead. At first he didn’t think we would be able to make it but I showed him what things we didn’t need any more that we could give up. We had already got Netflix and loved it. We were watching more of the instant videos then watch the satellite stations that we were paying $60- $100 a month. We also had just paid off our car and were not planning to get a new one. I got rid of my smartphone since I didn’t really use it very much at that time. Since my husband and I have health issues I would need to put him on my insurance. That would cost us about $800-$1000. It would be tight but we could do it. I had my husband turn in his resignation around mid-February. I spoke to my company and he would be on my insurance staring the first of March. So he worked till Feb 28 and was a free man by March 1.  

Luckily for me my husband has always been a hard worker and his mother and father instilled in him that not only does the female of the house do housework but every member pitches in to help. So when he retired from his job he got hired as the primary housekeeper of our abode. Let me tell you the benefits for us outweighed the loss of income. When both of us worked we would get home exhausted. My husband would be more exhausted than me because of not having a break all day so I would let him rest while I tackled dinner, picking up, laundry, and whatever else needed to be done that day.  I would finish around 8pm and then fall asleep rather early.  With my husband at home, the bathrooms got cleaned, dishes washed, several loads of laundry washed, and dinner started. I would come home to help finish up dinner (because we love cooking together) and clean dishes afterwards. All that would be left for me was to feed our cat, and do a little bit of spot cleaning up. We would get to hang out together watching TV, playing some video games, reading, or crocheting (one of my favorite hobbies).

As you can see what we lost in monetary value we more than made up for the togetherness, rest, and peace of mind. This allowed us to devote more of our time to reading our Bible like we always meant to do but never had enough time. Time is what we gained. You can buy time no matter how much you have.

How we did this was to follow these steps.

Assess: What objects/services/entertainment do you pay a lot for that can be purged?

Believe: In the value of time. What are you willing to live without for more time?

Childcare: Are you spending large amounts of money for someone else to care for your children when you could be the one spending time with them every day?

Decide: Who loves their job? Which spouse would benefit to spend more time with your children, pets, or doing household chores? It might not be a clear answer at first.

Estimate: Is there enough money for us to eat, keep a roof over our heads, and stay warm?

Finally: Do we need to downgrade our living arrangement? Can we move into a less expensive neighborhood? Can we deal with less space to be able to spend more time with our family?

God: Then pray to God (YHWH) to show you the way, to make the money go further, to be patient with the process. Then let go and let God. Psalms 55:22 Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.

You will never regret the time you get for yourself and your family. This may not be the right time to get down to one income. You may still need to pay some things off first. If that is true it is ok. Just take another look at it in a year. Save money to pay things off. Then you will be use to saving money for when you need to make a big purchase or pay for something unexpected. Time is priceless.