I am not a huge dessert person. My wife loves dessert, especially anything with chocolate in it. I am much more a meat and potatoes guy. We just had a Christmas lunch with the staff at the church, and I had 2 helpings of mashed potatoes (they were awesome) and no dessert.

I can kind of see this played out in other parts of my life. I am not really into the frilly stuff. It's nice sometimes to have the extras, but it's also nice to be content in having what's necessary. My car gets me where I need to go, my clothes cover up the parts of me that no one wants to see, and my home gives me a shelter even though it is extremely small.

I was watching a show on VH1 the other day about really rich people splurging. I am definitely against waste and I was deeply disappointed in some of the things they spent millions of dollars on. One girl spent 3 million dollars on her summer vacation!! At the same time, I think that sometimes God wants us to allow ourselves to "splurge". I am not talking about expensive vacations or anything like that, but sometimes my wife should be able to get a new outfit. Sometimes I should be allowed to get a toy for my guitar or a new dvd. Obviously not all the time, but sometimes.

Brother Andrew (in his book God's Smuggler) deals with this a bit. He and his wife were committed to bringing Bibles to communist countries. Every penny that came in went out. They dressed their children in the donated clothes. His wife hadn't had a new outfit in a long time. Finally, a friend of theirs challenged Brother Andrew on this issue. He said that God wants to give us good gifts and that He and his wife should be willing to accept them from time to time. This didn't mean that they should blow all the money that came in on fancy houses and cars (as some preachers are in the habit of doing), but that they should definitely splurge a little every now and then.

I struggle with money. I struggle with both attitudes. I get so angry when I see Christians wasting money, and I get angry when there are people who hate others with wealth. I struggle with a middle ground. I know that I only need the meat and potatoes, and I know that every now and then I'm supposed to have dessert. Too much dessert is bad for me and too little is a "crime" against the way God has set it up. I just pray that I can have a correct view of money. Wow, this was random.