Smart Investing

David and I were blessed this weekend to have 3 days all to ourselves in Savannah- a trip made possible by our generous church that gave us a gift certificate to a hotel for Pastor Appreciation Sunday back in the fall. We left the kids at home with Nanny and Papa (thank you thank you thank you if you are reading this!) and spent time being a couple instead of mommy and daddy for a few days.

On the way home today we were riding in that wonderful, comfortable silence and all of a sudden I could feel worry settling in on me. Now, I am not a spender- I am a saver and a bargain queen. My husband is the spender and the visionary in this relationship. So I started thinking about the money that we had spent, and although we had it to spend and it had not put a strain on our finances, I began to worry that we should have spent it on something else- what I don't know- but something necessary and practical. With 4 kids there is always something that they need, or want, and if pressed I could name a hundred things we could have bought. And David could tell by the way that I was "soffering" (that is another post for another time) that something was bothering me, so I fessed up. And immediately this man of wisdom stopped me in my tracks, and said he did not want to hear it, in so many words. He proceeded to explain to me that this weekend was an investment in something that was valuable and important and that affected all of the other parts of our lives. That every penny we spent represented the fact that we valued this relationship.

We are reading a book together (read: I am reading it and them summarizing for him) that deals with the subject of honor and what it means to a follower of Christ and in His kingdom. Honor is valuing another person, whether they act honorable or not, because you are honorable. It means making an investment in someone because of how God sees them and not how they look to you. And as we rode along today, I let God help me grasp hold of that truth and how it applies to my marriage and how I treat others in my life.

People invest in companies that they feel are worth something and will give them a return. They take a "gamble", if you will, on the future of that investment, that it will increase and bring them a profit. And they show their trust by putting their money into that company to use and to prosper. I saw that I have been at fault by forgetting to invest in my marriage but still expecting a good return, by giving it the leftovers and yet wanting it to perform like a Fortune 500 company. I'm not suggesting spending money that you do not have on a weekend away- financial irresponsibility only brings more stress into a marriage, and I know that first hand. What I am suggesting is that maybe you, like me, need to start honoring your marriage, valuing it highly because of how God sees it and not necessarily how you see it. Life is busy and the days sometimes go by in a blur, but what I call important to me I will always find time for.

I started thinking of ways that I could invest in David today, in us. And my Investment Counsellor began to give me lots of ideas, which makes sense, because He set up the account between my husband and I. And I thought of the Scripture where Jesus tells us to store up our treasures where they can not rust or be destroyed.(Luke 12:33, 34) There is no cause or company on this earth that can mean more to me than the incredibly handsome, kind, unselfish, God-pursuing man that I have the privilege of calling my husband. So I think that I'll increase my investment in that undestroyable, rust-proof treasure called my marriage- I know the returns are out of this world.