Humbling

Sometimes my children humble me.

This morning from our back seat Taevy asked me if she could use my Bible during her "Prims" class every Wednesday evening. Her Bible is pretty beat up and "doesn't have chapters." Samren chimed in and said that he needs a Bible with "chapters" for Royal Rangers too.

We had planned to get both children very nice new Bibles and cases for Christmas--their first "real" Bible rather than the story book type made for young children. But Taevy's simple request to borrow my Bible (which wouldn't be appropriate for her since it's a very heavy women's study version) touched my heart.

Right now we have an extremely tight budget due to me overspending last month (remember the cool new outdoor fireplace?). I called Eric to see if we could afford the $40-$50 it would take to get Taevy and Samren new Bibles. We just don't have it. So I headed to the Christian Book Store with the goal of getting the kids very inexpensive Bibles "with chapters." =-)

We headed over to the kids' Bible area. So many AWESOME Bibles! If you aren't a Christian maybe that sounds silly, but seriously--they have such a tremendous selection now for kids of all ages. Early-reader Bibles. Bibles for boys. Bibles for girls. Bibles for kids that like Super-heroes. Bibles for kids that want activities to go with their reading. You name it--they've got it. It was really fun looking through them. But none of them were in my budget.

So over we headed to the adult Bible section. I knew they had "economy" Bibles there. Sure enough in a center display were the $1 evangelism Bibles most people buy to give to those in developing countries during mission trips. I not-so-enthusiastically handed my two oldest the $1 Bibles as I looked around for something better that was less than $5. In the mean time my kids headed over to a reading table to explore their new Bibles.

I couldn't find any other economy Bibles and eventually had to ask a salesmen. I sheepishly told him that they were for my kids, but the budget was tight so I needed to see Bibles between $1-$5 each. I hate that I was embarrassed, but I was. I wanted to buy those cool $25 Bibles I saw in the kids' section! But I was stuck with Bibles people buy and give away for free to the underprivileged. The salesman lead me to a $4.99 Bible (the next least expensive). I was actually excited to see that I could buy a pink one for Taevy and a blue one for Samren. I picked them up and walked over to the kids.

My sweet kids were perfectly happy and excited about their $1 Bibles. And were absolutely overjoyed when they saw their $5 Bibles--after all--pink and blue! Taevy has spent most of the day today happily and intently looking through and trying to read the difficult-to-understand New King James Version with no frills.

So in the next few weeks, as we wade through the financial pothole we're in, I will think about how my children responded to their inexpensive Bibles when I want to feel sorry for myself. When we eat Mac and Cheese for the 3rd night in a row--"Thank you God we have food!" When we drink water instead of soda--"Thank you for clean water God!" When we watch TV movies on Friday night instead of splurging for a rental--"Wow! Thanks for the cable Lord!" When we spend time at home rather than going out--"Thank you Lord for such a wonderful place to live."

Thank you Lord for my children.

Anita