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Are We Poor?
“Mommy, are we poor?” her eight year old daughter asked.
“No,” the perplexed mother answered. “We have everything we need. Why do you ask?”
“That girl next door said we are because I wear the same clothes more than once a week; and that my clothes aren’t pretty.”
Mom spoke sadly, “I’m sorry she said those things. It is okay to wear them more than once because I wash them after you wear them. Let’s be thankful that God provided us with a washer and dryer. Plus, your clothes are pretty. They go with your beautiful baby blue eyes and long brown hair. I’ll try to have extra money next month so we can buy a couple things at the thrift shop we enjoy going to.”
“Oh, mommy that will be fun. Thank you.”
“If she mentions it again, just say how we have God’s love and He provides us with all our needs.”
“Mommy, why when I ask for a doll or something, you always say, ‘we don’t have any money today’?”
“Annie, I make sure all of the bills are paid and that we have food on our table. Honey, both of her parents probably have well paying jobs and can afford more. I just hope they thank God for what they have.”
A couple days later when I went to the mailbox, our neighbor came out, too.
“Hi”, I said, “we just moved in a month ago and I haven’t had a chance to meet you. I am Amanda and my daughter, Annie, lives with me.”
“Oh, hello”, the neighbor seemed a little uncomfortable, “My name is Brooke, it is nice to meet you.”
“Brooke, would you like to come over for some cinnamon apple spice tea?”
“That does sound good,” she said, relaxing a little. I’ll be over after I look through my mail. See you soon.”
Amanda was so happy to meet her neighbor. She went to the stove and put the blue-flowered teakettle on the electric burner. Ten minutes later, Brooke knocked on the back, kitchen door.
“Hi, Brooke, I’m so glad you could come over.”
“Hi, thank you for inviting me, Amanda.”
They sat at the round, eat-in-kitchen table with the pretty blue flowered print tablecloth. They talked for about fifteen minutes, when all of a sudden, Brooke broke down and started crying.
“Oh, Brooke, what’s the matter?” Amanda didn’t know what to do, except silently pray for help and listen.
“Amanda, I can’t keep going. I’ve pretended for so long—I can’t keep up with the charade. My husband left me two months ago. The bills are piling up and my salary is not enough. We lived above our means for about five years with credit cards. It was great and looked like we could afford all these nice things.” She was so ashamed. “I’m so sorry to dump all of this on you.”
“Brooke, here, have a sip of tea. It helps to cry because it relieves your nerves. I’m glad you told me. Do you mind if we pray about this?”
“Pray?” Brook asked. I’m not very good at that.”
Amanda smiled, “God listens anyway.” After her prayer she asked Brooke, “Would you like to become a child of God?”
“I thought I was. Yes, I do want to be. What do I do?”
Amanda got up and went to her bookshelf and returned with a holy bible and handed it to Brooke. They talked over two hours about God and Jesus and how He can become her personal savior. Then Brooke said the salvation prayer.
Amanda smiled and said, “Now with God’s love and eternal life, you are truly rich.”
Brooke cried again—this time with tears of joy.
Luke 12:15(NCV)—Then Jesus said to them, “Be careful and guard against all kinds of greed. Life is not measured by how much one owns.”
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