The Off Season

Sometimes I do my best thinking when I run. Many times, I pray.  Pray for friends, pray for my daughter, pray for family.  Sometimes I feel God places nuggets of truth on my mind that are tucked away for later pondering, or action.  Other times, I feel Him planting seeds that nestle in the soils of my heart, waiting for me to water.  To leave in the sunshine. To nurture and fertilize.

Tonight was quiet though.  As my feet hit the pavement.  As my breath fogged my vision.  As the puddles slushed about my ankles.  And as I rounded the final curve to reach my destination, my mind drifted off to my finances of all places.  And it settled there comfortably as I looked and searched a little deeper.

 Money, for me, has not been on my list of things to do and see in this lifetime. I live a comfortable life, certainly not luxurious, but at a standard where I’m provided with what I need, without a struggle.  I’ve felt blessed in this area, if I’m to be honest.

 But, as I’ve grown and changed, and certainly, now that I have my daughter’s needs up front and center, I’ve have had to come face to face with some of my tendencies.  The not so good ones.  And discipline myself to live within my means.  And not within my plastic.

My biggest development lately, has been in the area of grocery budgeting.  I’m making friends with coupons.  I’m living out of envelopes of money allotted to separate areas in my life.  This month, we are even following a meal plan! Which, if you know this absent minded professor personally, you may just have fallen out of your chair.

It’s amazing how when you set your mind and heart on being open to God’s leadings and ways in your life how it feels as if new worlds and lands are being opened up to explore.

Which brings me to the off season and what I wanted to share with you in the first place.

I work with a lovely outspoken Jewish lady who has the heart the size of Texas in a body the size of a timbit.  She’s a surrogate mother of sorts, and often times throws pieces of advice and wisdom my way which are turning out to be helpful little things I can tuck away in my pocket and splash about with on rainy days.  Recently, she shared with me a tidbit of advice about clothes shopping of all things.  She disclosed that her extensive and beautiful wardrobe is all bought in the “off season”.  It’s a way she’s been able to afford items from cashmere to chiffon. Winter coats are bought on beach trodden days, summer dresses are purchased just after her menorah are taken down.  And I got to thinking that this is an area  that I will be mindful of implementing in my own life. This off season shopping.  This off season wisdom.

I think God’s ways work sometimes best in the off season.  During dry or seemingly valley seasons in your walk with Him, if you can rest in the knowledge that He’s preparing you for another chapter which will require some character skill He wants to hone in you now, the dark and less exciting times can feel a whole lot more bearable. During seasons of blessing and tangible growth, if you can be mindful that He still wants you to hold on and lean on Him, look to Him, and rely on His strength, that trying season around the corner, will feel a little less trying. Your lack of "debt" will bring you enhanced "savings" to draw from.

As I am learning to “buy bulk” and shop in the off season, I’m learning a little something about the beauty of discipline and preparation and how in budgeting and in life, God anoints and honors every season you're in and guides you for each season accordingly, so as to bear fruit in the next. Both in finances, and in your character.  It's big stuff, and even better than timbits.

What season has God got you in now? What does He want to develop in you in your Off Season?

 The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.

~Proverbs 21:5