This post is dedicated to the happy the hungry, the hopeful one and the helpless one. 

Oh, what a difference a year makes!  About two weeks ago or maybe more I was asked to conduct a blog post on the difference between what a person wants vs what a person needs. Well, today is that day that I will discuss this very topic, however, it must be understood that even though this topic is a very universal theme, I am simply writing from a personal perspective.   In life, we have all heard the term that “when a person goes to the grocery store, the best way they can save money is to only buy what they need and not always what they want.” 

It has taken me personally sometime to understand this concept even though I have been fairly independent for the last 11 years of my life.  However, just because I became independent so many years ago, it did not stop me from making some rather odd financial choices when pushing my shopping cart down the aisle.  You don’t learn to manage money over night. It comes with time and experience in handling difficult circumstances.

Today I had a wonderful opportunity today to spend some quality time with an uncle of mine. He and I traveled to nearest Italian store. I didn’t go there for any particular reason today other to buy a little bit of sandwich meat and Italian bread.  I don’t go there for its cakes, pies or even pasta. I visit Angelos often due to its sentimental value.  Even though the food and desserts are good. I visit the little Italian bakery of Angelo’s because it helps me never to forget my Italian roots and the simpler days of life.  The reason I say that is because “a small child is like a house pet.” Allow me to explain a little. A  small child who is innocent in the eyes of the world who can do no wrong and does not have the clear understanding of responsibility, the young child as well the young dog has everything done for them.” They live a life of ease.  They are highly favored and looked out for.  However as the child grows up, they are taught some rather tough but real life lessons on the things of great importance like how to manage a bank account.

1 Corinthians 13:11King James Version (KJV)

¹¹ When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

Oh,  what a difference a year makes!One year ago, I rented a house I didn’t want, I didn’t like, and quite frankly cost too much. A year ago that very house was a great financial burden on me. I didn’t have a lot of money then and groceries weren’t getting cheaper no matter how many fliers the paperboy would put in my mailbox.  Even though the situation wasn’t the greatest it taught me a lesson, one that I will never forget. Always consult God beforehand on making big financial decisions.  I had the option but then again I didn’t.  It was never discussed among my peers.

Isaiah 1:18King James Version (KJV)

¹⁸ Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

The one great thing that those living conditions taught me was to be humble even when you are hungry.   It has been just over a year since living in that bachelor apartment and the greatest lesson I have learned since that time is to always consult the Lord about matters such as big decisions. An example of this is the possibility of buying a house, getting the right job, buying a new car even getting married.   There is one thing I will touch on from the former house. Even though I often went to bed hungry and my primary source of food was peanut butter and jam sandwiches. The living situations taught to humble, happy, and it gave me a greater appreciation for the things that were given to me later on in life’s journey.

2 Corinthians 11:27King James Version (KJV)

²⁷ In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.

This past  December I was only given one Christmas gift and it wasn’t even of my own family. Some good church friends gave me the gift and it has been the greatest Christmas present that I have ever gotten in my life.  It is worth more to me than all the riches the world could give me.  I keep the anchor close to me and always remember to ask God about things in the prayer closet before I venture out and make a decision I know I may regret later.

Sometimes in life, the hardest lessons to learn from are the ones that teach you the most. However, sometimes people must face difficult circumstances in life to value the good times a whole lot more. It has been a year and a half since living in the small bachelor apartment and I can say along with the Apostle Paul.

Philippians 4:11-12King James Version (KJV)

¹¹ Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

¹² I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 

Due to the fact that I went through some trying times, I gained an element which no man, woman or devil can take away. I gained a piece of the spiritual fruit tree simply known as long-suffering and because of that,  I can put people’s very needs before my own.

Romans 5:3King James Version (KJV)

³ And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;

Being a Christian in this world isn’t easy, it takes the work let that be a lesson for all of those Lukewarmers out there.  It must be understood that in order to gain a strong foundation we as Christ must keep adding godly ingredients without the effort to do so we cannot grow in  Christ. Without feeling the need to grow in Christ than we become lukewarm and complacent.

2 Peter 1:4-6King James Version (KJV)

⁴ Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

⁵ And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;

⁶ And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; 

So today when I went to the little Italian bakery, I went back in time to things I looked at and I very much wanted but didn’t  need.  

Psalm 34:9-10King James Version (KJV)

⁹ O fear the Lord, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him.

¹⁰ The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.

So the next time you’re in the grocery store and you’re pushing your shopping cart down the aisle you all must make a decision. Did I need that cake or do I buy a sandwich instead?

Philippians 4:19King James Version (KJV)

¹⁹ But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.