Standards

What do I use to measure my standard of living?

That is a question I have been asking myself recently.  Why is what is important to me all that important to me anyway?  I have religious/spiritual motivations.  I have monetary motivations.  I, like 95% of the rest of us, have societal pressures with its varying motivations.  Also, within each of these areas are pressures with varying degrees of relevancy to my life.  How am I supposed to navigate these treacherous waters and determine who will win my heart?

Well, God won first and foremost, but how does that effect what I buy, what I do recreationally, what I eat, and, for the sake of this discussion, where I live?

I need to live on purpose!  It becomes very easy to just live life.  Rather I intend on going through life on purpose.  (this is probably the biggest area in which I need to work).  I have long felt this way, but putting it into action has been hard.  I should be able to answer, without thinking, the question “Why?” anytime it is asked.  Why did I buy that, eat that, do that, or live there should be easily answered questions.  I should have thought about it before I did it.  Frequently, life happens and broken relationships, a misguided career and debt just seem to have come out of nowhere!

When I live on purpose, how I judge my standard of living will be based on what is important to me.  It will not be based on what it says about my standing in society.  It may not even be based on my monetary ability.  It will be based on how effectively it helps me accomplish my goals and the purpose for which I am living.  In no way can I be judged fairly by another’s standard.

Census 2010

I am sure you have heard all the buzz about the census.  Well, what do we do when we have moved three times in the months proceeding the census?  We never received our census forms, we were at the KOA and they do no deliver them there I guess.  In fact, I do not know if any of the people living fulltime at the KOA will be counted, oh well.  Nevertheless, we have been waiting for the day that the census worker would arrive and count us.  We now have a permanent address.

She finally came this weekend.  She knocked on our door and it startled me, we have had little to no uninvited guests.  After asking if she could speak to me briefly, she recited our address and it was so unfamiliar to me that I had to really think about it.

“Where you living here on April 1st?” she asked.

I think so, I thought.  “Yes.”  We had moved in five days before that!

“How many people were living here on April 1st”

“Six.” I said laughing on the inside as I stood in front of our trailer which only measures 29 feet long.  She then asked her list of questions regarding each of us and came to here last question.

“Did anyone else live here on April 1st?”

Really, did you just ask me if there were more than six people living in this 290 square foot trailer? “No” I answered softly while laughing heartily on the inside.

Now we have been counted.  My wife’s grandmother can now rest easy.