"...when we were newly married and had very little money. I was in the air force, and we had missed Christmas together. I was on assignment overseas. When I got home, I saw a beautiful dress in a store window and suggested to my wife that if she liked it, we would buy it. Mary went into the dressing room of the store. After a moment the salesclerk came out, brushed by me, and returned the dress to its place in the store window. As we left the store, I asked, “What happened?” She replied, “It was a beautiful dress, but we can’t afford it!” Those words went straight to my heart. I have learned that the three most loving words are “I love you,” and the four most caring words for those we love are “We can’t afford it.”"
Becoming Provident Providers Temporally and Spiritually May '09 Ensign
Elder Robert D. Hales Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Posts
2 comments:
Wasn't this the best story in that talk? I loved it. As my daughter and I were talking about it, she told me that when we said that, it frightened her. She felt like we were poor. My son's school teacher called me and asked if I could come in for a visit. Not what you want to hear from your child's teacher! My son had written a letter to "Lenny the Leprechan" asking for some gold so we wouldn't lose our home (it was paid for in full) and we had a ton of food storage. She was worried that we might need help. After we talked, I knew there had to be a better way to teach our children a good sense of priorities.
We changed "we can't afford it" to that isn't in the budget, or, should we buy that or save for _____ ,something longer term or more important like vacation, a better car, or clothes for school at the end of the summer, etc.
It is so important to teach our children to make these decisions and let them be shnookered by the advertising world. When you are addicted to spending, nothing ever brings anything other than a momentary rush that is gone almost immediately. Yes, this is experience talking. A terrible thing to realize that you have put your family's financial state in jeopardy.
Right now, I am watching some of my grandchildren kind of go through withdrawal from always getting stuff bought every time they go to the store. I am so thankful that they are learning it now!
I loved that talk, and especially that part of it. We really don't need to spend money to show love for one another!
Post a Comment