An Odd Thought

If you know me reasonably well you already know that rules and limits are not something that I embrace whole heartedly. When I took basic programming in high school I almost drove Mrs. Bun Lady nuts because if she said to write the program like so in order to achieve a certain result, then I thought, "Huh, I bet if I write the program this other way I can achieve the same result."

Even now as a teacher I find it challenging to follow all the rules and stay on the script. If I see that a rule is just a time waster, busy work, cookie cutter producer, then I really have to weigh out the consequences of not following the rule before I can bring myself to do it.

Recently I decided that my family needed a spending freeze, or at least a spending slow down. I had checked our account on Monday as well as the bills that had to be paid that week and decided we were cutting it close. We needed to put off all purchases until Friday. I had a little cash in my purse that could cover any small emergencies.

This summer I've been trying not to use less electricity, because I wanted to offset the pool, and I've been trying to use less gas, to offset the four dollars a gallon. I also set these rules up for myself because I do care what happens to God's creation.

I'm pretty well employed and so is my husband, so these rules are entirely self imposed. Self imposed, for good reasons, but certainly not brought on by the crush of poverty, and I certainly don't intend to compare myself with those who find themselves making very serious choices between food and medicine.

As I was out walking to the store with JD today I was surprised to find myself thinking that setting limits on yourself can actually make you creative. Right after I had decided that we couldn't spend any money, I discovered that we were out of bread and the next day that the car was out of gas. It was tempting to just throw up my hands and take money out of savings to cover these necessities. It's not like it was really life and death that we stick to this spending freeze.

Instead, after I fussed about in my head for a little while, I realized that I actually know how to make bread and that I have all the ingredients in the house because we make pizza crust every week. Luckily there were hot dog and hamburger buns leftover from last week that Russ could use for the kid's lunches until I had time to make the bread. Equally lucky, I had the next day off which gave me time to make the bread and meant that I didn't need gas to go all the way to Holland.

The car was super empty, but Russ had just filled the van before I declared the freeze, so I told him to sleep in on Wednesday and wait to go to work until I got back from taking the kids to school in the van. When I brought him the van, then he took it to work. It was not at all difficult to convince him to sleep in. Another day I threw my bike in the back of the van and hitched a ride to the Y with Russ in order to go to yoga, then I rode back home again.

Setting limits on myself, giving myself a box so to speak, actually made me think more creatively. I'm sure the fact that I put the limits on myself is part of why it was a good thing and not a bad thing, but still, I do wonder if there has to be a box in order for you to think outside of it.