Recessionary Spending

Recessionary Spending

During a recession, things are tight everywhere. When we’re not sure of our resources, we tend to draw back. We ask ourselves, Do I really need that now? or Do I really need that ever? These are questions worth asking, recession or no. But a voice in my head keeps calling out for spending, and not the kind you might imagine.

I’m hearing a line one of my parents must have said more than once in my growing-up years, because it stuck: “It doesn’t cost you anything to be kind.” That’s the sort of recessionary spending I could get behind, and lately, it’s been modeled for me.

Not long ago I sat in a coffee shop with a friend who wanted to show me something on her laptop, but the Wi-Fi was not cooperating. A fellow sitting next to us observed our frustration and called over a suggestion. As we continued to try to log in, he got up, walked over to our table, and tried it himself. When that didn’t work, he logged off his own computer so that we could log on—as him! Turns out he was a regional supervisor for the coffeehouse chain, sitting in the store doing some paperwork. He was kind, and he spent some of that kindness on us.

On a recent trip from Portland to Houston I had accidentally gone on a mini fast. It never occurred to me that after a cup of oatmeal at six in the morning, I wouldn’t be eating anything but peanuts until six in the evening! On the next-to-last leg, my seatmate (who learned I’d been flying all day) reached into his briefcase as we were preparing to land at his destination, pulled out two small packages of cookies, and said with a wink, “Here. Dinner’s on me.”

It doesn’t cost us anything to be kind. And these two kind spenders have encouraged me to spend my way out of recession in as many ways as I can—one crazy act of love at a time. Will you join me?

You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors of the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill.

Matthew 5:14, MSG