The following letters are from a woman (Mary Young is not her real name) who wrote to me several years ago. The first letter is brief, but captures the essence of how growing in generosity increases our ability to love. The second letter does an excellent job of showing how developing and living by a financial plan helps you meet your goals in life.
God Watches Over Us
I happen to know that this family lived on a modest income, yet they managed what they had very well. I was so impressed by the example of this family that I wanted to include the letters in these practical exercises. I’m sure that you will not only enjoy them, but profit from them as well.
Dear Mr. Lenahan,
We have learned, sometimes the hard way, that it is perfectly safe to give more than you think you can afford. This is a mystery and I still can’t figure it out, but it is true. If you want God to bless your endeavors, help Him bless some other needy organization’s endeavors. I don’t think this is a “pay back” situation as much as that if we show God that we are trying to learn how to love, He watches over us.
Money is both a blessing and a test for all of us, whatever our income is. If we use it selfishly to take care of ourselves only, God must decide that He’ll leave us to manage on our own, since we seem to want to. If we can control our fear and our avarice and toss the money where He shows us He wants it, He sees that we trust Him to be our Father and He acts as such in all our endeavors. This is the only explanation I can offer for the fact that, while we have of course been surprised by sudden large expenditures like everyone else, somehow the money has always been there. We have never gone hungry because we helped someone else eat.
In Christ,
Mary Young
One of Life’s Major Tasks
Dear Mr. Lenahan,
I was very happy to see a book like yours appear, because in planning a curriculum for our high school students, a major concern has been finding resources to prepare our kids to handle money properly — probably one of life’s major tasks. Even our Lord thought so — look at how often He talks about money in the Gospels!
My husband has had to manage our finances with great care and skill — and a lot of help from above — and this skill has received very little applause from anyone who knows him, because keeping your family out of debt simply is not a priority for most people. My parents, who are very good Catholics, basically always looked to a better job and a higher income to keep them afloat. This meant that my father had to remain in an intense competition to keep climbing the ladder to pay the bills and support the children, and when he finally reached the top, his job was so demanding that he had to almost abandon his family to fill his responsibilities. I remember one evening while we were eating supper, Dad came in carrying his suitcase and briefcase (he had been gone one week on a business trip) and said “Hi, everybody, I’m back home.” One of my little brothers looked up in surprise and said,” You’re back home? I didn’t even know you were gone!”
My husband and I are very much alike in many ways: we seldom fight about money because we are both savers, and when there isn’t any money we don’t spend any. When we were married, we realized that the only way I would be able to stay home on his income would be if we had no mortgage payment. I was teaching at the time, and we decided to live on his income and save as much as we could from that, and save every penny of my income. We bought a small house, paid 3/5 of the asking price in cash, and paid off the rest within 15 months.
Our first child was born 9 months later, during the recession of '82-'84, and the next few years were very tight. But because we had no mortgage, we were able to save what used to go into our mortgage payment. Interest rates were high then and we got a good return on even our small savings. We also saved our income tax refunds. For years we looked for a bigger house with more property, but because we literally could not afford a mortgage payment, we had to wait until we could save the difference. When we conceived #4 in 1992, we had to do something about both the house and the car, but by that time we had managed to save $55,000. We put a $30,000 addition and improvements to the house and bought a new mini-van when there was a big discount at the end of the season.
Slavery or Freedom
Our income is low but we have no debts, so we are able to save money to pay cash for what we need. I keep a careful eye on the sales and a have a system of buying ahead what we need instead of waiting until we need it, which requires that I stay organized. My family depends heavily on the work that I do to stretch the money, so in a sense I have a job with a non-taxable income!
Chuck keeps a budget and sets up accounts for each need. He even has a car repair account in which he sets aside $30 every pay period so that if we need a sudden repair, the money will be there. Why pretend that it won’t happen? We stay afloat because we always know exactly where we are in our finances. We’ve even been able to keep saving, and we already have enough to pay at least one and possibly two university educations. I just love this man and reverence him for the silent, sacrificial, often exhausting work he puts into spinning straw into gold for love of us. And because he loves and trusts God, God does His part, too. There have been so many times when God’s providence has saved us money, made something almost broken last just a little longer, made a funny noise in the car disappear…
In contrast, a friend of mine married a man with an excellent salary. They had a large wedding and went to Hawaii for two weeks for their honeymoon. The following year they went to British Columbia, and then to Quebec, and then to Mexico. She quit work when the baby came, and they bought a lovely ranch house on an acre of property near the lake. Now they have a big mortgage, and they argue a lot about money. If they had lived on her small salary and saved every penny of his, they could have paid cash for their home and car and all his income would be theirs to spend now. As it is, they will probably be slaves to the bank for the rest of their lives, and all for the lack of four years of real sacrifice. Young couples don’t realize that every penny they spend during their engagement and early marriage is money that will have to be borrowed and paid back at least double over most of their lives when they have to buy a house.
Sincerely in Christ,
Mary YoungP.S. I want to share a prayer with you that we all say every night after the Rosary. It has been miraculous for us and will be for you, too.
“O glorious St. Joseph, you who have power to render possible things which are impossible, come to our aid in our present trouble and distress. Take this important and difficult affair under your particular protection, that it may end happily. O dear St. Joseph, all our confidence is in you. Let it not be said that we have invoked you in vain, and since you are so powerful with Jesus and Mary, show that your goodness equals your power. Amen.
Divine Providence can provide.
Divine Providence did provide.
Divine Providence will provide.
Phil Lenahan is President of Veritas Financial Ministries. If you have questions you would like Phil to address, please email them to [email protected]. You can also up for the free Veritas Financial Ministries E-Letter at www.veritasfinancialministries.
