Technical Maturity

Five years ago for Christmas, I got Michael an iPod. It was white, shiny, sleek, and expensive.

And he loved it.

He spent his time playing with it - transferring hundreds of CDs, downloading iTunes, creating playlists, researching new bands, you name it.

He took it to work, and drowned out the "office chatter" with his favorite Alterbridge songs.

He took it on trips, and relaxed on the plane with some Collective Soul playlists.

He took it in the car, and rocked out to Linkin Park while commuting.

He asked for iTunes gift cards for birthdays and holidays. He searched and collected and created a library of over 5,000 songs.

And then, 7 months ago, it broke.

Oh, we took it to the Apple store. And did what they recommended (freeze it for 24 hours) - twice. But all to no avail.

Of course, Michael wanted to replace it immediately. But that just wasn't in the budget. So he waited. Patiently, I might add.

In the meantime, he started taking CDs in his car to listen to. CDs! Can you imagine?! He listened the music in his iTunes library through the computer. The humanity! And he had more free time at night since he wasn't searching and collecting and creating. What's the world coming to?!

You know, the first year I quit my job and stayed home with the girls, we were poor financial stewards. (Poor in this case meaning lousy, not poor meaning without money - although we were that, too.) Yes, we cut things out of our lives - I for instance, didn't buy any more new clothes, or get my hair done every 2 months, or go out to lunch everyday. We stopped going to see movies in the theater every Friday. We didn't buy things simply because we wanted them. I stopped going to the mall all together. But a lot of that was out of necessity - why did I need new suits from Banana Republic when I didn't have a job to wear them too? And how were we going to go see a movie when we had a newborn at home?

We were poor financial stewards because we kept trying to live the lifestyle we had been living before we cut our income in half. We couldn't imagine living a life where we didn't have cable TV or cell phones with Bluetooth technology (the latest thing back then) or pizza from Papa John's on the weekends. I mean really, what would we do without those things?!

And then we came to terms with the debt we had created that first year. And were finally honest with ourselves. "We can't keep living this life!" we finally admitted. So we turned off our cable. And got rid of personal cell phones. And stopped eating out, period - even "cheap" fast food places.

Even though we did eventually sacrifice those things, we grumbled about it. I felt like I would rather have had my arm cut off than lose some of those modern luxuries I had come to depend on. But if someone had said, "You can keep your cable TV, but we'll take away your scriptures, or your ability to pray," I might not have had the same reaction. My time was definitely spent more with modern media than with any form of communication with God. So "going without" became a blessing - it opened up time and energy that had otherwise been spent doing things of, let's be honest, non-consequence. We had more time for each other. We had more time (and energy and attention) for our kids. Most importantly, we had more time for Heavenly Father.

We discovered that this need to have the latest and greatest, to fill our lives and time with those things we thought we couldn't live without, was something that was holding us back. We became better stewards of ourselves - both financially, and as a result, spiritually.

So back to Michael's broken iPod . . .

My sweet husband was willing to forgo a new iPod because of what we had learned in our years of financial sacrificing. He realized he didn't need the latest and greatest to be happy. And that he could make do with what we already had.

His greatest example of this to me was when he boarded the company plane, accompanied by senior executives, and listened to his "music" while flying. Someone approached him to ask him if he was watching a movie. No, he was just using our portable DVD player to listen to some CDs he had burned of his playlists since he found himself bereft of an iPod. "That's the biggest walkman I've ever seen!" was the response. Surrounded by people with the latest and greatest technology, he made do with what he had, and wasn't ashamed to do so. I was so proud of his sacrifice and humility.

This week his 7 months of sacrificing and waiting was rewarded. We got a babysitter, went on a date, and bought him . . .

. . . a brand-new iPod. All his months of waiting and doing without have made him even more appreciative of it. And they've definitely made me more appreciative of him, and what he's willing to do for our family to be an eternal success.