Food Budget & Ministries

This last weekends grocery shopping trip proved to be a little upsetting. It was slightly higher than I was expecting and was getting tired at how often our food budget is higher than we projected. Couponing seems to be the latest rage and while I get decent savings many of the foods that we buy for our weekly menu’s there are quite a few that coupons just don’t seem to cover and I don’t like feeling guilty for for not coming out of the store spending 10.00 for 200.00 or whatever worth of groceries. I want to save money, but I see the deals that people get and I wonder if it can even come close for the way our household cooks and the products we chose??

With that being said I know that part of the reason our overages are happening is because we have been starting to have more guests for dinner. More people = more food. I had a wonderful revelation though this past weekend while sitting on our back deck watching the puppies play in the backyard. I realized that for this time in our lives that is a ministry. To back it up a little, I had also been worried that since joining our church home I hadn’t gotten involved in ministry. It was difficult as this was something I grew up doing and always seemed to be involved every way you looked. Now it is a go to church on Sunday’s and a Bible study during the week that is about it.

It is always great to have friends that you can break bread with and enjoy the company!!!

Opening up our home, getting to know people, establishing relationships, inviting those who may not make the first move towards friendship…those things are also ministry. (I forgot that those things count too!) Sometimes when you ask yourself why I don’t have more people to hang out with…the easiest thing to do is invite someone you think might be interesting out to coffee or over for dinner. It is amazing how quickly you can make friends, if you are willing to make the first move. Now instead of wondering who we can hang out, the problem is overbooking a weekend because there is a long list of people we want to get to spend time with. However, I think that is a good problem.

We as Christians are the church body. We should work together, support each other, be there for each other. Yet it makes it a little easier when you actually know someone outside the smiles and four walls of a church building. Investing in people is always worth the time and I will stop questioning whether or not I’m ministering and just try and do what God has in our lives right now!