I have had a few experiences these past few days dealing with free stuff. I am some what unsettled in how I feel about it. I truly believe that you are to give of what you have and it will come back to you. Oprah said that whether you believe in this simple law or not it will manifest itself in your life. I have experienced it and continue to in our lives. It is more like the more we give of ourselves the more we are blessed with what we need in our lives. I have not purchased anything but our matress and boxspring in our house to furnish it. Funny. Somewhat mismatched but everything has a story and meaning to it. I likewise like to pass on what has been given to us for someone else who would like it or needs it. We have given trailer loads of appliances and furniture away. So now to these past few days...
I decided to have a garage sale on Saturday. I had quite a few smaller items like a tvstand, tv, microwave, fan, canopy, small fridge, that I had acquired and tried to give away numerous times but nobody could use them. So they went to the garage and sat. Saturday before I made my run to the thrift store to donate them I decided to try having a garage sale... make an offer garage sale. If they would have said 25 cents for the tv stand I would have been happy... or even I will just take it off of your hands even better! The only thing I wanted to get money out of was the mini fridge that I actually did purchase for the missionaries to make them a little kitchenette in our basement. They never ended up using it so I was going to send it down the road. Business was slow... I changed my ad on craigslist to "almost everything free."
People came a little quicker... almost too quick. I ran inside the house to take care of the kids for ten minutes and looked out and found that someone had come and taken the fridge... left everything else. I felt abused and taken advantage of. Who just comes to someones garage sale and walks away with the nicest item there ... (I know it was almost everything free... wouldn't you think that would be the item not free?) and then not even wait til I came out or come knock? I felt violated.
Flashbacks came of when I was in Peru in Arequipa walking down the street past the ditch full of garbage and dead dogs, past the corner stores, past the barred doors and to our block where we could see the door pried open. (Our door was obviously not barred...) Entering the room it was ransacked and gutted of everything! Even to my shampoo bottles in the bathroom, suitcases full of journals, cameras, shoes three times bigger than anything that would fit a peruvian. They didn't look in my altoids can for the money I stashed in there. I guess they thought it was really mints instead of money. haha.
My companion was devastated. She came from a very poor family and now had nothing. I felt angry. I felt guilty. It was my fault that they broke in. I was the American who had "money." Of course everyone knew where we lived and what time we were at church... we invited everyone we could tell. How many taxi drivers had dropped us off there? I then felt that I needed to learn a lesson at this point and once I took that attitude I could feel peace that we would be alright. Material possessions do not matter. They can be recooperated. What mattered was that we had our families and the gospel. We could live just fine. Yes I did finish my mission with just the pair of shoes that I had on my feet that day. (Turns out it is very hard to find my size in Peru...) But that was the turning point for me in my mission. I knew what I had that really mattered to me no one could take away from me. Not ever. The rest... who cares? So they got my expensive, but on sale at penny's luggage set and my new digital camera. They could never take away my testimony of the true restored gospel. They could never take away my knowledge of who I am and the divine destiny that awaits me. They would never be able to take away my eternal family.
So I decided that I would forgive the person who really needed a free mini fridge. Maybe they really needed it and I saved their life with it? Or maybe they really needed the $30 I would have gotten for it. I guess it is not for me to judge. I ended up selling most everything that day and donated the rest. All in all, not a bad day. We continue to be blessed for living a frugal, humble, and charitable life. And I am grateful for that.
No comments:
Post a Comment