A Dinner Table Conversation
I love “family” meals.
Granted it is just the two of us, my husband and I, but I will forever love sitting in the peace and quiet over mealtime. No phones. No tv. No interruptions. You see I specifically didn’t say a “nice” meal because sometimes our meals consist of tuna fish sandwiches. Or leftovers from 3 days ago. We aren’t picky eaters and fancy meals are special occasions. When you have special occasion meals all of the time, they do not become special anymore. Hence our low-key dinners at times.
While sitting over a meal, we often discuss our days, and in the end, try to solve all of the world’s problems. Of course we don’t get very far. One thing we can solve though, is our own problems. What problems you might ask? The problem of materialism and contentment.
I do not see this as just “our problem” as our world is saturated with this very disease. It spreads like wildfire. It spreads into every crevice you can imagine. It seeps into the areas of our lives that seem untouchable.
That day, I had pondered a question: what do I want our life to look like? In fact, it inspired me to write a blog post on this very idea: Standards of Living: Is It Worth The Cost? If I could start completely over and forget any variables, what would it be? What would our life look like? As I thought about this question, I realized I wouldn’t change much. Of course the added bonus of more money would be wonderful and having cars that you don’t have to worry about whether or not they will start is a plus, but in all reality, I am satisfied.
I decided to ask the same question to my husband over dinner. I always look forward to our dinner table conversations because again, we talk about everything under the sun. I decided to ask him this thought-provoking question – what do you want your life to look like when it comes to possessions? After a minute or 2 of silence, he said “we really have all we need”. Yes, having 2 reliable cars would be nice. But we decided that even though we don’t make oodles and oodles of money according the America’s standards, we make enough. Dan being a youth pastor and me, a secretary, we love our jobs. They are flexible, influential, inspiring, and we love them. We actually make plenty for the lifestyle we live. We can put some in savings. We can pay our bills. We can go on a vacation or 2 each year. We are more than blessed.
As we looked around our home, we realized that really, we do not need anything else. We are content with what we have. I don’t say that flippantly and say we never want things. FAR FAR from that. We dream. We probably dream too much. We dream of getting things that we really will never need, but think we want. We struggle with the same wants and really greed, that others have too. Our humanness is always wanting more and MORE.
But we realized while sitting around our table, that we are thankful. We are humbled. We have more than we will ever need in life. And daily we have to choose to be content. It isn’t an automatic switch to just turn on. It is a lifelong commitment and goal I feel. But it is achievable in the sense that progress is progress, right?
Our dinner table conversation has now challenged us to continue towards a life of contentment when it comes to material possessions.
Are you up for the challenge?
Great Post! It's so easy to get caught up in wanting the newest clothes or trend, when these things are fleeting and meaningless in the grand scheme!
Thanks Amanda!
We are content on a school teacher's salary. I have learned that a lamp or table picked up at the thrift store and redone with things I have on hand is far more satisfying than something picked out from a furniture catalog. Also, I wouldn't trade the time we spend together doing these little projects for anything else I can think of. Good for you, sweet Kristin; and thank you for the encouragement.
Mary, you are SO right – it is WAY more satisfying to DIY than buy! One of the biggest my husband and I have tackled is redoing the complete inside of our fishing boat. It was a marriage tester I must say, but when we were finished, it is the thing we are most proud of. I love your perspective Mary and thank you for yet again, sharing your words of wisdom :)!