Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5
We went through a phase where perfectly good bananas weren’t being eaten in my house except by me. I wasn’t eating them as fast as they were turning brown. It used to be that I couldn’t keep enough of them in my house, but all of a sudden it was as if the boys were on a banana strike! I’d remind them they were there, they’d thank me, and still not eat any. After they were too brown to eat, I made banana bread. The boys sure had that gone quicker than I could blink!
I was determined to get bananas again because they’re healthy and could be used as a snack, on cereal, on a peanut butter sandwich, or even in a smoothie. Again, the week passed and the boys weren’t touching the bananas. They were starting to get brown again! I was getting pretty irritated by this time because I don’t believe in wasting food. It was time for a little chat with the boys. I told them how the bananas were getting bad again, and how we couldn’t do that. If they weren’t going to eat them, I wasn’t going to buy as many. I reminded them how I had to get resourceful and make the last ones into banana bread. They looked at me and said, “Exactly.”
The character trait for today is Resourcefulness-making wise use of what others might overlook or discard (definition from characterfirst.com).
Tony Robbins said, “It’s not resources but resourcefulness that ultimately makes the difference.”
You know what? We need to get back to having eyes of children, seeing how they see. If we have a cardboard box, we see something that needs disposed of. If a child sees a cardboard box, they see a racecar, a playhouse, a train, a rocket ship, or any number of things. It’s time to get a new perspective and look at what we really do have. Then, we simply need to figure out how to use what we already have to reach our goals and change our world.
Here’s an example. When the boys were little they wanted to sleep out in a tent and we didn’t have an air mattress. Now, some of you would say, “Sleep on the ground.” That wasn’t my thoughts though. We needed an air mattress, but that wasn’t exactly in the budget. If we didn’t have the money (the resources), we couldn’t fix the dilemma, right? Well, we did have a few extra dollars and it was summertime, so we could find some cheap water rafts to do the trick! Do you know how many times I’ve also made a bed out of pillows to sleep on the floor? Be content always! We don’t necessarily need more resources, just more resourcefulness.
Take Theodore Roosevelt’s advice when he said, “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” I challenge you to have the imagination of a child today, but with the maturity of an adult. There’s no telling what you’ll accomplish through that kind of resourcefulness!