I decided to write about a different "simple pleasure" every day this week. Something that is small and somewhat insignificant, but that brings an inexplicable amount of joy to my life. Mike Cope preached on Sunday from Ecclesiastes. The verse that stands out most in my mind from Ecclesiastes is "Meaningless, meaningless, everything is meaningless." But along with that is a lesson to be learned about being content and enjoying each day for what it is.
Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favors what you do. Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil. Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun--all your meaningless days. Ecc. 9:7-9
One of the things Mike said was, "Young marrieds, enjoy your poverty now...It's the richest you'll ever be." [At this point, Brandon and I look at each other, raise our eyebrows, and think in unison, "Seriously, Mike?!"]
Those are scary words considering our current income, but the more I think about, I guess there is some (a little) truth to it. After all, here in our days of poverty we are free to do whatever we want or go wherever we want. We are not tied down by children or deadlines or even a long-term plan for the future. Flexibility is a word I am enjoying at this point in my life. Also, while money is tight, Brandon and I are forced to come up with alternative ideas for dates that don't involve spending a lot of money. One of our favorite things to do on a "date night" is watch episode after episode of West Wing. (By the way, another simple pleasure...I love The West Wing!! I wish Jed Bartlett was our real president. Monday night is marathon night on Bravo. Not that we need it now that we have the first two seasons on DVD...Christmas and Valentine's Day gifts to each other. We are new to the show, so we had to go back and catch up on what is happening.)
We are also able to enjoy little things because we have a different perspective. Our first year of marriage I was student teaching and not able to work, so we lived in a small (I mean small) garage apartment. It was one room that we tried to divide into a living area and a bedroom with strategically placed furniture. Now that I'm working, we've moved into a 2-bedroom rent house. It's so nice not to always have to be in the same room! When we walked through it the first time I told Brandon, "It's got a hall closet! We don't have to keep the vacuum cleaner at the end of the bed!"
I've heard my parents talk about when they were newly married living in a trailer home where the water in the toilet actually froze because it was so cold inside. They also talk about how exciting it was to discover some money that my dad had forgotten about under the seat of the car because that meant they would be able to go out for coffee. The funny thing is that they talk about that time with such joy. Of course they laugh about it, but I can tell they really enjoyed that time in their lives too.
So, today my simple pleasure is enjoying this time that Brandon and I are poor for what it is, knowing that we will never have it back, and appreciating the little things we enjoy doing together because it's all we can afford.
