Lest I Forget
Dear Stephanie,
Right now you are caught up in the trenches of student-family life. Frugality has been the byword of your existence these ten or so years of marriage, as a result of that. You have struggled, scrimped and saved. You have lived in old apartments filled with second (or third or fourth) hand furniture and extremely modest belongings. You've watched every penny to make ends meet and tried to keep your family from excessive debt. You've shopped at thrift stores, price matched, accepted hand-me-down children's clothes and items and done everything else you could think of to clothe and feed your family the best way you could, while still maintaining your dignity and being self-sufficient and self-reliant. You have never wanted to lean on anyone accept the Lord. Never forget.
You've also reveled in the joy of accomplishment. You've bought and paid off your own cars, "upgraded" and bought that couch that you loved, managed to bring 3 babies into the world, finished your education, supported Jacob through his undergrad and post-grad studies, taken the opportunity to learn a new skill and have fostered it into a small side business.
Someday, things will not be so tight. Someday in the future, Jacob will have finished with school, hopefully gotten a job, and you will have come into a more stablized period in your life. You won't be as transcient. You may have more than the bare minimum that you need. That will be an exciting time for you. You may be able to finally buy your own home and get some of the things that you have longed for to make life a little easier or a little more enjoyable. But never forget where you've come from. Never forget what you've gone without (and survived without), what you've learned, how you've been strengthened by your trials. Don't lose sight of the full picture and what is truly important. And never let your children forget either.
It will be up to you to do your best to keep them from becoming the comfortable, spoilt, self-deserving, self-centered people that seem to be more and more abundant in this age of technology, luxury and self-indulgence. Let them know some struggle. Let them learn to work and earn what they desire. Let them grow the way that you did. You will be tempted to give to them freely. Especially since you would never want to see them upset or working through wrong choices or difficult consequences, but it must be so. Giving freely is not a wicked desire, but beware of over-indulging. Otherwise, they will not have character. They will not be humble. They will not learn the value of a hard days work, the satisfaction of breaking a sweat and seeing a job through and done well. They will never understand what it means to serve and think outside of themselves. Keep your Gospel perspective and help them to understand it, too. Remember where your treasures should lie. Teach them what their treasures are. Never forget.
You can do it. Stick with it. You are strong. The future is bright come what may.
Yourself
Right now you are caught up in the trenches of student-family life. Frugality has been the byword of your existence these ten or so years of marriage, as a result of that. You have struggled, scrimped and saved. You have lived in old apartments filled with second (or third or fourth) hand furniture and extremely modest belongings. You've watched every penny to make ends meet and tried to keep your family from excessive debt. You've shopped at thrift stores, price matched, accepted hand-me-down children's clothes and items and done everything else you could think of to clothe and feed your family the best way you could, while still maintaining your dignity and being self-sufficient and self-reliant. You have never wanted to lean on anyone accept the Lord. Never forget.
You've also reveled in the joy of accomplishment. You've bought and paid off your own cars, "upgraded" and bought that couch that you loved, managed to bring 3 babies into the world, finished your education, supported Jacob through his undergrad and post-grad studies, taken the opportunity to learn a new skill and have fostered it into a small side business.
Someday, things will not be so tight. Someday in the future, Jacob will have finished with school, hopefully gotten a job, and you will have come into a more stablized period in your life. You won't be as transcient. You may have more than the bare minimum that you need. That will be an exciting time for you. You may be able to finally buy your own home and get some of the things that you have longed for to make life a little easier or a little more enjoyable. But never forget where you've come from. Never forget what you've gone without (and survived without), what you've learned, how you've been strengthened by your trials. Don't lose sight of the full picture and what is truly important. And never let your children forget either.
It will be up to you to do your best to keep them from becoming the comfortable, spoilt, self-deserving, self-centered people that seem to be more and more abundant in this age of technology, luxury and self-indulgence. Let them know some struggle. Let them learn to work and earn what they desire. Let them grow the way that you did. You will be tempted to give to them freely. Especially since you would never want to see them upset or working through wrong choices or difficult consequences, but it must be so. Giving freely is not a wicked desire, but beware of over-indulging. Otherwise, they will not have character. They will not be humble. They will not learn the value of a hard days work, the satisfaction of breaking a sweat and seeing a job through and done well. They will never understand what it means to serve and think outside of themselves. Keep your Gospel perspective and help them to understand it, too. Remember where your treasures should lie. Teach them what their treasures are. Never forget.
You can do it. Stick with it. You are strong. The future is bright come what may.
Yourself
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