Tuesday, March 2, 2010

At the expense of others or The Golden Rule

Time, Money and Words I love to save a buck or 20. I am not embarrassed to hold up the grocery line with a stack of coupons. In fact, if I see someone behind me exuding impatience. I warn them "I have a lot of coupons, this could take a while." Many have thanked me and quickly found another line. Some stayed and worshiped in awe at the savings. Once in while, an unbeliever stays, and I have had the privilege of hearing their impatient sighs as I watch my grocery bill drop. Hey, they were warned. I didn't intend to take up their time. My thriftiness is at the expense of my time. I spent an hour sorting and making my list. I tried not to hold the rest of the world up. When I am saving money, someone or some large corporation is not making as much. When is my savings greed, at the expense of others? My friend owns a Christian bookstore. She even lets it be known, she will match the big Christian books store's prices. Would I bring in the prices and talk her down? No way, not in my wildest dreams. Would I show up a yard sale and offer a few bucks less for an item? Yes, of course I would. If I didn't know that person. I remember being on the other side of the yard sale. It was during my first year of marital bliss. We were having a huge yardsale. We had merged 2 homes worth of furniture, moved into a house filled with unwanted furniture and needed to purge. This was one of our first tests. Could we peacefully let go of our junk stuff? My sister-in-law was there helping to set up. It was still early, so the Gman had carried out some of his treasures and placed them on the makeshift tables. He drove down the street to hang the signs. Along comes middle-aged lady. How much for these antler's?
Those antlers?
The ones that Gman had hoped to hang in our bedroom? Above our bed? You mean the ones that have the little hooves mounted below to hold the fishing rod or rifle? The ones that used to be above his fireplace in his bachelor pad?
The one's that in his own mother's words "Oh! he Loved Those!"???? Oh, I have no clue. So I look over to my sister-in-law who grew up in deer country. "I don't know five bucks?" I look over at the lady and say "Five Bucks" The lady, who had previously showed no emotions at all, comes to life. She is excited. She can't hide it. "I'll take it!" Realizing my stupidity, and being still somewhat of a rookie at diplomacy, I said to her. "You'd better get out of here before my husband gets back." Wisely she did. I was left with five dollars and a problem.
Gman handled it pretty well. We had only been married a few months, so he was still madly in love with me. He only tried to sell the box of china from my great aunt Alice once that day. We get a chuckle out of it now. I learned something that day. I am still learning things as I think too much, like this blogger I just started following. I loved her title page. Just Thinkin'. It amazes me how God can use so many small events to teach me something. I learned that the Golden Rule is the rule. We are leaky vessels and need to hear it over and over. I can hear that catchy song from Sunday School. "Do to others, Do to others as you would have them do to you." My friend was expressing how much she has enjoyed my blog the other night. She is like my first follower. Thanks so much BFF, I appreciate the kind words. Then she blurted out "How come you are not that funny in person?". Before we go thinking, boy that was harsh, know this, those words did not hurt at all. I told her that I have learned to bite my tongue. She understands it totally, we are sisters in that matter. I could say I am too often misunderstood, but the truth is I am tired of eating shoe leather. Many of my funny thoughts and unsaid words would have been at the expense of others. Whatever gains I make in my life, my hope is to let them be through kindness and hard work. Not at the expense of others. Yard sale season is coming up. I will keep this in perspective. Thanks for stopping by. ~TerriG
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2 comments:

viktoria said...

What a great post, Terri! Gives you a lot to think about. I honestly wasn't trying to be mean or funny when I said that, I just was really enjoying your clever but at the same time humorous posts.

March 2, 2010 at 8:46 PM
TerriG said...

I actually added it last minute BFF, it fit in with what was on my mind lately. Thanks for the blogspirations! You da best!

March 2, 2010 at 8:53 PM

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