I’m reading`your posts backwards and particularly enjoyed this one. I live in a family of extremes–my siblings have quite a lot of money and spend so much time making so much money that they can’t relate to our simpler life. My daughter has now joined that elite, where her hair cuts cost $400.00. (Why would anyone spend that much money on a haircut? How can a haircut be worth what I used to make in a week? I tell you, Dan, editing never paid me that much! I should have gone to beauty school.)

We live on a boat. When we’ve finished fixing it so that it’s ocean-worthy again (it’s an old boat), my husband will retire to a very modest SS pension because 401K income went to take care of a cancer death. We’ve pared to very little, though we still feel rich because our boat is large and lovely even in her antiquity and we have toys on board that make us comfortable. The boat’s size will enable us to take an extra outboard to give to someone in need and an extra sewing machine. These gifts will cost us only the loss of the pittance we’d get if we sold them. But they may mean a livelihood for someone in a third-world country. That humbles me. Giving out of our abundance is easy. Giving out of need is much more difficult. I pray that as we go out to minister the love of God that He’ll give us hearts that are willing to let go of stuff if someone else needs it. And not just the “extras.”

I’ll be writing on the food thing soon. Thanks also for your good words.