We recently downgraded from our beloved 7seater Jeep to a smaller car 🚗.
Yep! 😬☺️
CRAZY TIMES!
Man, it’s been such a crazy year for us (story for another day…or not).
But I love being able to share not just highs but the lows as well, to really normalise the ebb and flow of life…
We’re a generation that is so especially geared to upward mobility.
And of course, everybody wants success. We all want to grow & progress, which is great & normal.
But we can prize upgrades so much that having to downgrade can be contemptible.
IS IT SUCH A BAD THING TO DOWNGRADE?
I was thinking about why it is that it seems it’s such a shameful thing to downgrade?
We’re particularly living in a tough economy; soo much has changed, so much has been lost…
We’re making our way out of a pandemic and into an economical recession, so it only makes sense that most of us will be personally affected.
Our livelihoods are affected, our income is affected, our homes, our children, our resources, as well our relationships even. We’ve lost in such a variety of ways
Anyway…..
OUR DOWNGRADE STORY
We bought our first 7seater car when I was pregnant with our first baby because we knew then that we wanted fill it up! And it’s been such a blessing not only to our growing family but to the different spaces and places we find ourselves working in❤️.
So, having to fit our family of 6 (soon to be 7) in a very small car has been rather intimate 😄 but hey, it is what it is in this season.
We do hope that we’ll be able to get a big car again in the future but until then, we intend to be content with what we have in every season, to make what we have work for us.
IT IS WHAT IT IS
And on most days, it’s all good, but on some it’s frustrating.
Kodwa, we could be fixated on the one or few challenges we have; but in all honesty, we have such a great life despite our current issues….there’s so much that there is to enjoy and be grateful for.
Personally, I don’t ever want material things to dictate whether I wake up in a good mood or not. My happiness, joy & how I exist cannot depend on my bank balance & what I have or don’t have.
THE SECRET OF BEING CONTENT
I’ve been particularly thinking about Philippians 4:12-13 lately: “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”
Man, I really aspire to that; to basically worship in every situation. We use this scripture to encourage ourselves to do great things all the time but the context it was said in is actually the opposite: to grab ahold of God to encourage ourselves when we have to do difficult things.