Logic

I love all of my children, but I get to appreciate different qualities I see in their individual character.  Isabelle is just like me so I get her most of the time (I don't always appreciate having a mirror of my own faults before me but that's a different topic).  Charlotte.  Well, she's a lot like her Daddy.  She's very logical.  She's also very thoughtful.  You put those two qualities together and you've got one smart kid! 
Here's a recent conversation to prove my point -

Charlotte:  How is a credit card really money?
Me:  Well, it's actually a promise to pay money. 
Charlotte:  Then why are they bad? 
Me:  hmmm, it's often poor decision making that gets people into trouble; not the card itself.
Charlotte:  How do credit cards work?  (see the logical side coming out?)
Me:  ~thinking of how to make by brain work like hers, I lay out a scenario~

1. Go to grocery store and buy $60 worth of groceries with a credit card which means you are promising to pay that at some point.
2. Credit card company sends a bill for $60 which you are supposed to pay but the company is so nice that they only require you to pay $10 per month, which you plan to do for 6 months.
3. Because the credit card company is nice enough to allow you an extension on your promised payment of $60, they will charge you $2 per month that you still owe them money.

Me:  So Charlotte, how much did you pay for your $60 worth of groceries?
Charlotte:  72 dollars.  That's like wasting money.

And there you have it.  Such wisdom from the mouth of my 7 year old!  I love it.  Plain, simple and honest. 

I have been one willing to waste money on things like credit card interest before.  The Lord opened my eyes and with His guidance and provision, no more!  Not to say that I am never wasteful because I'm sure I have and will spend money on non-necessities.  But I have come to truly hate debt...I desire so much to be completely free from it.  Even though the only debt we have is our mortgage, I hate it.  Now, I know it's viewed as an investment and I suppose it is but when I look at what we borrowed for our house and what we're actually going to pay for it in the end, I'm nauseous.

We are either good stewards or bad stewards.  Stewards of our time, talents, resources and specifically, money.  We can be wasteful or resourceful.  Logical.  Please think about how you spend everything the Lord has entrusted you with.  If I had one wish for people during this heightened consumer driven time of the year, it would be for them to pause before wasting. If my 7 year old can grasp that choosing debt is wasteful...

If you must be in debt, be indebted to a God that sent His Son to pay a debt you could never pay yourself.  There is a reason that God wants us free from the entrapment and entanglements of this world. 

Free.  Jesus paid it all.  All to Him I owe.