Taking It to the Bank By Dr. Juan Harrison
Taking It to the Bank
Used to we could pretty well tell who the folks were that were living beyond their means, especially in a small town. Give it any name you want, but it’s getting closer to regular folks like you and me who just want to stretch out that paycheck or retirement income to make it cover the month. Some of us have been able to stash a little extra in a shoe in our closet or maybe deposit it in a bank account and leave it off the balance as a sort of cushion if the end of the month bills push the checking balance into the red.
Some of you have kept working longer than you planned. Others of you may have kept up a part-time job or picked up a little side hustle to supplement your SS or retirement check. I keep saying more and more that a lot of us have to keep our eyes open and not stump our toe. We keep asking ourselves how did it come to this. A number of us have found that the little extra money we had left over each month is now going for necessities instead of fixing up the kitchen or bath.
Us Americans, especially us Texans, realize that down deep we are some of the most blessed people on Earth. If our families are reasonably healthy and staying in touch with us, we really are blessed. If you’ve got neighbors like we do who walk in the neighborhood in the evenings and sometimes stop to chat, feel blessed. When I had my 45 trips down the road for radiology recently, neighbors volunteered to drive me if needed. Yesterday a younger neighbor’s dad was starting on the same journey. I found myself volunteering my services as a driver for him. It just seemed natural. Pass it on. God spared me for another day.
Not everything in life boils down to money. A number of folks have found it didn’t give em much comfort in the end when few people darkened their doors. A home. A bed. A car. Food for today. You may not need to worry about tomorrow. The Rapture could come or your ticket could be up.
The Bible spends a lot of time reminding you and me to fear not. He says He didn’t give us a spirit of fear. It came from that other guy who is pretty much the source of most of our troubles. Facing money problems or Mr. C, it’s easy to start feeling overwhelmed. That’s about the time we need to take inventory, count those grandbaby blessings and look around and say thank you for what we do have. It’s scary sometimes. He will never fail us.
By Dr. Juan Harrison
