Our 11 year old dishwasher went to the appliance heaven in the sky this weekend, now becoming the largest paperweight in our kitchen. It served us well, provided clean dishes for our family of five and all the 'extra' children who graced our home for so many years. I'm going to miss that dishwasher and all the time it saved me. However, it isn't actually leaving the home...not for now. If we were to remove it from its present position, there would be a hideous gaping hole in our kitchen cabinetry. For now, we have replaced it with two dishpans and the cheapest drying rack found at Target, complete with tray. I spent under $13 for these 'replacements'. Yes, these are the replacements, and I would like to explain our 'why' before anyone questions our sanity. What happened to the shiny new stainless steel KitchenAid dishwasher that my husband and I selected after hours of reviews and research?
Admittedly, a shiny new dishwasher seems like the best choice. It can make my life much easier, and it is only a mere $700 on sale. *cough* Our decision to make this purchase was based on the reality that our family life is crazy busy, how our children fight fiercely and take an hour to load the dishwasher (You know the old "its not MY turn!!), and the strong belief that we 'need' a dishwasher. Need. Did you catch that word? How society skews our reality. There really are only a few things we 'need' in life -- shelter, safety, food, water, etc. A dishwasher is a luxury, not a need!
God brought to my attention this morning the urgency with which we thought we should make a dishwasher purchase. Do we really have $700 sitting around? Of course not; our credit card company would love us, that is for certain. By the time we finished paying for said 'needed' dishwasher, the cost would go up exponentially with monthly fees. It didn't take long for us to realize that this really was more of a 'want' vs. a 'need'. We live in a society that says, "Just Do It!". A society which imposes all its immoral temptations before us, tempting us with advertising and the mentality of 'having to keep up with the Joneses". I will be the first to say that we have fallen into this trap, the trap of buying something without having financial means. The words "delayed gratification' became forefront in my mind this morning, and I knew there was a lesson to be taught to our children (and a reminder for us as a couple).
As young poor newlyweds, we found ourselves with the motto: "If we are going to be poor, we are going to be poor in style.". Yep, we lived up to that. We had a Monopoly game and an Atari 2600. That Atari was our 'luxury', our entertainment. Thru the years, our 'motto' found us getting deeper in debt, not learning from our financial errors and no way to dig ourselves out. Delayed gratification was a term never heard nor spoken in our marriage. Having come from less-than-functional family backgrounds, neither of us had wise parents to assist us in decision making, and well, we learned the hard way. It would behoove me to state that as a couple we have changed and grown thru the years, and God has provided for our needs when there were times we thought we could never get to the surface. God has grown us, and we, hopefully, are passing our experiences on to our children.
Delayed gratification, the ability to discipline yourself in the short term in order to enjoy greater reward in the long term, seems to be the antithesis of societal standards. Immediate satisfaction, whether it be a new car, $200 jeans, or the latest in technology, can be construed as nothing more than giving in to selfish desires. Try not to confuse this with me saying anyone who desires 'things' is selfish. Rather, my implication is how one goes about to acquire such things. Do they find themselves so consumed with wanting things that they make poor financial decisions, or do they put off that purchase until they have saved the money to make said purchase? That's the difference with which I speak. Proverbs 21:20 (ESV) states, "Precious treasure and oil are in a wise man's dwelling, but a foolish man devours it.". I have squandered that which the Lord has given me, I have boughten into the worldly mentality of "I want it now". The sting of poverty, of having to pay back money to credit cards for products long used up isn't pleasant. I can only pray that we have learned our lessons thru our years of marriage and not to repeat foolish decisions.
Life with God is a process of delayed gratification. We spend a lifetime engaged with Him, following Him and trusting until our anticipated arrival into Heaven. Our reward of eternal salvation is greater than any "prize or want" in this life, and waiting for that moment of meeting our Savior face to face will be our ultimate reward. Isaiah insisted "Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint" (Isaiah 40:30). Waiting on the Lord. Waiting.
We decided to wait on that dishwasher, not to fall into a debt or marketing trap. In addition, we desire for this to be a life lesson for our two young children as well. Remember those new Rubbermaid tubs and drainer I purchased? Our 8 and 11yo children are about to embark in an area of life they have not had to experience, that of doing dishes. Seriously, how many of us had dishwashers growing up? I see no hands raised! We did dishes in two sinks with towels and a bottle of Ivory liquid. We have one extra large and deep kitchen sink, so doing dishes will be a challenge. Currently, an even bigger challenge as our drains are in need of being professionally cleaned and 'puke' all over the basement floor and laundry. One must s-l-o-w-l-y release water down the drain or they will create a lake of laundry downstairs. Like I said, it will be a challenge for our children. Not only are they going to learn to appreciate the luxuries of life, they will be learning a lifelong skill. Because, as we well know, not all apartments have dishwashers but all have kitchen sinks. :) It's our desire to teach about waiting for things in life. Certainly we have been teaching this throughout their young lives, but this will be more of a direct teaching vs indirect teaching. Sometime down the road, when we have the money in hand, we will purchase that sparkly new dishwasher that I desire and makes our life easier. By this time, I suspect it will be near Christmas (or after) and it may become the family Christmas gift. We don't usually do big gifts, and I can only pray that by the time we finally get around to getting a new dishwasher, our children will develop more of an appreciation for luxuries in life, realizing how much drama they created over loading a dishwasher. I can only imagine the raging fits we will be experiencing, water fights, and conversations to be had while doing dishes.
Greater things are to be learned by developing and practicing the skill of delayed gratification. Just because we want something now doesn't mean God intends for us to have it right away. For whatever reason, I am taken back to an old ketchup commercial. "Good things come to those who wait" was the slogan for Heinz Ketchup back in the 80's, and the visual of waiting for ketchup to come out of the glass bottle. Those who wait long enough (or stick their butter knife in the bottle!) were rewarded with delectable ketchup. Delayed gratification (for ketchup lovers). May my children learn some bigger lessons than just that of how to wash dishes...that is my goal in the next few months.
