During this holiday season, the United States is in a recession. The official unemployment rate is above 10%, but some are reporting that as many as 17% of US workers are currently without jobs. What happens to the mentality of an individual or family or nation during times of economic hardship? How do their priorities shift and how do their spending habits change?

Let's face it, during times of plenty, most people become spoiled brats. They expect to have all they need want and have it yesterday. They run up credit cards, buy homes and vehicles they cannot afford, don't save money and just live with the mantra “Eat, Drink and Be Merry.” They become self-absorbed and consumed with accumulating material goods.

Back in 1986, I spent 3 months in Brazil. I met a 14 year old boy who had lived on the streets of Brazil for most of his life. He started asking me questions about my life, home and belongings in the US. Once he found out I owned more than one TV, he was convinced I was rich! I gave away 3 meals at McDonald's in Sao Paulo before I finally ordered my food to go so I could eat in the car. These were children who were begging for food and not for money or other goods. How many times have you sat down in your local McDonald's and had some child come up and beg you for your food? I dare say if you have had this happen, the child was quickly reprimanded by his parents if you were here in the US. ;) I went into a home where a woman just had dirt floors, scrap wood for walls, a makeshift stove and one mattress on the floor where about 5 people slept. I did not even grasp the meaning of poor until I met these people.

It is sad that so many people are out of work and it seems that we may be headed for inflation with the price of goods rising faster than the per capita income. However, there are many things we can gain as individuals, families and a nation during this time. People have already started eliminating frivolous spending and services and products they once thought necessary. People are starting to feel more pressured to save for the storms of life because the rainy days are already here. We are spending more time with family and friends doing inexpensive activities. Building relationships has become more important to us than in past years. I have even noticed neighbors who are starting to know one another again. During the economic boom, we because so self sufficient instead of being inter-dependent with others.

Have you shifted your priorities and spending habits? If so, how? Are you thankful for anything that has taken place as a result of this shift in our economy? Are you planning to do anything different this holiday season as a result of having less cash to spend? Maybe start a new tradition?

I have always been a trusting person.  I like to think the best of people until and unless they give me a reason to not trust them.  Consequently, I have been burned a few times.  Ok..  A LOT of times.  However, I have been burned as a result of my own sometimes, gullible ignorance in being a very open person more than I have been burned by others.  After all, at 44 years of age, I should have long ago realized that people will take information which I provide as an open book and twist it around through their own filter to justify their own perceptions, experiences and heart.  I have also burned other people and disappointed them because of my human nature.  My human nature which gravitates toward comfort, instant gratification and ease.  The Bible says in Jeremiah 17:

 ⁵Thus says the LORD,
         "Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind
         And makes flesh his strength,
         And whose heart turns away from the LORD.
    ⁶"For he will be like a bush in the desert
         And will not see when prosperity comes,
         But will live in stony wastes in the wilderness,
         A land of salt without inhabitant.
    ⁷"Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD
         And whose trust is the LORD.
    ⁸"For he will be like a tree planted by the water,
         That extends its roots by a stream
         And will not fear when the heat comes;
         But its leaves will be green,
         And it will not be anxious in a year of drought
         Nor cease to yield fruit.
    ⁹"The heart is more deceitful than all else
         And is desperately sick;
         Who can understand it?
    ¹⁰"I, the LORD, search the heart,
         I test the mind,
         Even to give to each man according to his ways,
         According to the results of his deeds.
    ¹¹"As a partridge that hatches eggs which it has not laid,
         So is he who makes a fortune, but unjustly;
         In the midst of his days it will forsake him,
         And in the end he will be a fool."
    ¹²A glorious throne on high from the beginning
         Is the place of our sanctuary.

The sad truth is that we live in an "information age" and traits such as "integrity" and "confidentiality" are quickly disappearing.  I have told many people something along the lines of "keep this between the 2 of us and it should go no further."  Only to find out later it went further.. much further.  Wagging the tongue is part of human nature for all of us.  (The tongue can no man tame... courtesy of the book of James.) I am guilty of it and you are guilty of it and if you say you aren't, then you have a lying tongue on top of it!

So now, I am adjusting my paradigm.  I was a little sad about it at first.  The fact is that we should realize man is basically not trustworthy so that we conduct our own speech in a way which is honorable, graceful, respectful and worthy of the trust of others.  You see, if we approach others as if they cannot maintain a confidence, we will not be so willing to give them our information or the information of others. 

In the Old Testament, very few people were allowed into the holy of holies.  When it comes to our lives, we might allow more people into our sanctuary; however very few should enter our sacred space of confidentiality.