Burnt Offerings

I don't know why, but I get very excited whenever we have a burn day.  With all of the vegetation clearing we have been doing on the property, we have piles of limbs, leaves, briars, etc everywhere.  I want them gone.  So, whenever it's a burn day, I am up on the property starting my fires as soon as I get up in the morning.

Since we're also in the process of trying to move up to the house, I have also been carrying boxes of paperwork (receipts, bills, etc.) from prior moves that need to be burned.  You know, the kind of things that have personal information on them, and you just don't want to throw away in the paper recycle bin.  So, I've saved them... for a while... like several years.  And, now, I am in the perfect position to get my fire started and destroy personal information in a convenient manner.

Anyway, I was looking at the pile of papers I had pulled for today's fire lighting, and casually glanced from time to time at what I was actually putting in the fire.  Hmm... car payment bill... glad I don't have those anymore.  Here's the receipt for one of the many credit cards that got me into trouble... no more of those to worry about since I only have one department store card (with a limit of $100 at that), and all my other cards are debit cards.  I tossed in the flight information from one of multiple cross country trips to see my mother.  Soon after, in went the orientation materials from my residency in Minneapolis.

We were sitting around discussing memories of Christmas recently, and I remembered being so broke at one point in Minnesota that I had $0.45 in my checking account.  The decision going home that night was to spend my last $3.00 in cash on gas, something to eat for dinner or a small bag of cat food.  I bought a dollar in gas, got the cat food, and had just enough spare change in the car to add a can of Spaghettios for dinner.  That experience definitely made me more financially responsible.  Thank, God, for residency meal tickets... they helped me make it through until pay day.

So, today, I started seeing my burn day as an offering... I gave thanks for the ability to not have to worry about gas to go to work, feeding my cats or myself, and for not being financially irresponsible and adding extra debt to my life... of course, don't talk to me about my house and remodel... we'll call that an investment for the future...