Lessons in Budgeting

Last night I decided to add up all my grocery receipts for the month.  I usually am pretty aware of how much I have already spent, but I thought I really had this budgeting thing under my belt.  No sir.  I was way over budget.  WAY over budget.  And this month isn't even over.  So I started thinking about how that happened.

I sat and spewed to Brad about how much I (we) have this (American?) mindset that I am entitled to certain things.  If I want something sweet or salty, or just a piece of fruit I think I should be entitled to walk into the kitchen and get it.  I want snacks! I want good food! I want healthy food! If it isn't there, which snacks have really not been too much for us lately, there is that sinking feeling like..."man, we are poor.  We can't even buy snacks.  I just want to eat a whole box of Cheez-Its or some ice cream" (ok-we don't actually do this, but you know the mentality).  Then I drink some water and eat a hand full of Moriah's Cheerios.  This has played out many times.  And then I think back to earlier that day when I looked around and was overwhelmingly thankful at all we had been given. This is a mindset I have been --trying to-- keep regarding our budget and food.  THANKFULNESS.

God says in scripture that entering into the gates of the Lord and walking into His courts comes through thanksgiving and praise. (Psalm 100:4)  Thanksgiving brings us to Your nearness?  I'm about that!

Brad has said to me several times, "At least we aren't living off rice and water!"  But if we were, would I still be thankful?  It's not that we don't have food, it's that we can't buy all the food we would want, so we end up either A. spending over our budget to buy those things or B. becoming anxious or frustrated that we are not being satisfied in the way we would want.  So in comes mindset #2.  DYING TO MYSELF...killing the old man, the flesh.

"He who loves his live loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal."  John 12:24-26
"If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me."  Mark 8:34

OK, pause. 

Maybe you are wondering why I am pulling these verses out for this.  It ties in, for real.

If I can give up certain foods, or even eat only what I need, or smaller portions, or budget in those special things I want (the list goes on with ways to cut back) we end up with more food later and more money for:

-being able to pay our bills without straining to do it

-having more money to bless others monetarily

-being super grateful when others provide for us 

-having more money and more food to share with friends and family for meals together

-allowing the kingdom of God to expand through us instead of our bellies expanding.  This is especially convicting for me.

I really am not saying to give up snacks or feel bad about your Frito's.  I'm thinking more about mindless eating and thinking I actually am entitled to eat what I want when I want it.  Snack away.  I'm going to.

So that said...

I have given up sweets a few times over the past 5 years or so for anywhere from one week to 40 days, for the beginning of lent or just because I realize how much I lack self control with sweets.  This last time I did one (which ended last week) I really wanted to allow Jesus to satisfy me in the place where I let sweets satisfy me sometimes. That is really where the name for this blog came about. Drinking the honey of His love and enjoying good food with Him, in Him, with thanks and moderation.  Well..and I just really like honey.

This verse works with this stuff-
"Have you found honey? Eat only what you need, that you will not have it in excess and vomit it."  Proverbs 25:16

I think with all this careful budgeting and realizing I have to be ok without certain things comes that wonderful thing called DISCIPLINE (aka self-control)!  Thankfully, God says something about this too that helps!

"All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness."  Hebrews 12:11

Peaceful fruit of righteousness?  I really want that.  You know, I think with laying all this out my heart just wants to be near to Jesus and walk with Him.  So all these mindsets are really only what will get me to align with Him in His written word and the words that proceed from His mouth to me daily.  Budgeting kills my flesh in many ways, and gives life to the spirit.  YES----I want that.

"The mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace."  Romans 8:6

Granola

Marriage is what brings us to the granola today.  With almonds and raisins.  

When my husband Brad and I were dating, I found out a sad thing.  He hates oatmeal.  Thanks to my mom, oatmeal with brown sugar and chocolate milk with a straw are forever etched on my palate as comfort food.  Thus said, one night we went to the ballet.  Brad loves the ballet.  This is true. Afterwards, we ate at a diner where I could not for my life decide what to order (a very typical me thing to do), so I ordered the largest bowl of oatmeal with brown sugar I have ever seen.  When the waiter put the bowl on the table, Brad literally almost threw up on the spot.  You now understand the level of his disgust towards oatmeal.

OK.  So herein lies my quandry.  Oatmeal is known by any Joe to be a most healthful food.  And my mind is frequently reeling on how to make healthy things that are cheap that my husband will enjoy.  How do I feed my husband oatmeal?  Apparently it is called, in his own words, "dangerously good" granola!  Hooray for this discovery!  Now I will share the recipe.  I got it from a different site and tweaked it a little.  So does that make it my own recipe? 

Almond Raisin Granola

3 c. regular oatmeal, raw
2 tbsp. brown sugar
1 c. toasted almonds
1/2 c. canola oil or unsweetened applesauce
1/2 c. honey
1 c. wheat germ, toasted or untoasted
1 c. raisins
1/4 c. sesame seeds
1 tbsp. vanilla

Mix oatmeal, wheat germ, and sesame seeds. Then mix oil, honey, brown sugar and vanilla and pour over the oatmeal mixture. Mix thoroughly. Spread evenly in a jelly roll pan. Toast 1 hour in a 250 degree oven, stirring every 10 or 15 minutes. Don't let the granola burn! Allow it to cool. Toss with almonds and raisins. Store in tightly covered container in refrigerator.  

Note!:  I think one reason mine tasted so good was because I crushed up whole almonds myself and toasted them on the stove in some olive oil right before adding them to the finished granola.  It gave it a unique flavor that I don't think it would have had with just regular almonds.  

Enjoy!  And tell me what you think if you make this!