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Saturday, April 10, 2010

The Love Budget

Rachel has been posting some AWESOME post about budgeting our money! I thought I would take that theme and put a little twist on it. This idea is really my Husband's. He is an accountant so he is a real numbers kind a guy. He came up with the Love Budget because he wanted a tangible way to think of love. He wanted to answer the questions:

  • How can we be rich toward God?
  • What is heavenly currency?
  • How do we earn it, and how do we spend it?

Luke 12:15 says, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." This verse implies that these riches are separate from our possessions. Luke 12: 33 speaks of "treasure in heaven", which makes me think that these riches cannot be seen, and verse 34 states, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." The word "heart" is often connected with the term of "love". This connection really helped me pull it all together. I remembered that Mark 12:30-31 contains the greatest commandments, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these." The plain and simple truth is that God values love so much more than anything else. Just as a modern day currency could have its value based on gold or silver, heaven's currency is based on love.

There are a lot of ways to earn and spend love. One great book on the subject is The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman (I believe that he has written on for kids as well) is a great book on love. It talks about your "love tank" and how it fills up and empties out. The book talks about 5 ways to show and feel love:

  • Physical Touch
  • Words of Affirmation
  • Service
  • Gifts
  • Time

Jesus also gives us some incite on how to earn and show love to God. "Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him." John 14:20-22

1 Corinthians 13 also sheds some light on the subject:
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

What if we were to put together a Love Budget. A tangible measurable way to earn and spend our heavenly currency (love). "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." What would the plan look like?

My Husband and I are pursuing the idea of a Love Budget. Are you interested in hearing more of our thoughts on the idea?
What ideas do you have for a Love Budget, what kinds of things would you include?

5 comments:

Lindsay said...

Your post made me think of the book "The love dare" based off the movie Fireproof. I have the book although I haven't actually followed it all the way through, but it's a great starting point.

Years ago (when we were older), my mom decided that she would "tithe" to God, not only with her money but also with her time. So every day for 24 minutes she gave back to God. This did not include her daily devotion time. This was always done with actions. For 1 month every single day she did some kind of act of service (other than the normal acts of service a mom does everyday). I remember her weeding an elderly neighbors flower beds, feeding people at the homeless shelter, volunteering hours at the local homeless shelter, babysitting for free for a family with several small kids.... You get the idea. It always make a big impact on me. And although it's not really possible with small kids at home to take care of. I think it's a wonderful way to show love.

Liz said...

Wow, Lindsay, that is a terrific idea.

Donna said...

Tell us more, Fawnda. I still have no idea what a "love budget" is...all I could think of was Karly and Paul's absolute insistence on budgeting for their date nights, including $ to pay their sitters, every single week. I always thought that was pretty awesome. It basically translated to "time spent" on each other.

Rachel said...

A Love Budget sounds like a great idea, Fawnda--I can't wait to hear more about it. The Five Love Languages is a great book--we did a DVD class on it at church a few months ago, and it really makes sense, especially when you figure out your own languages and those of your spouse. It was pretty enlightening around here! :)

Looking forward to hearing your ideas!

Karly said...

When I first read your hubby's post about this on your blog, I thought this was an intriguing idea. Maybe you could include a link to that post to further clarify what you mean by "Love Budget". I thought he explained it pretty well.

And I would love to read more of your ideas on this topic!

Donna, you made me smile when I read your comment. Yes, our weekly date night is our "Love Budget"! The money and the time that we set aside to make this happen is our way of trying to maintain and value our marriage/relationship. I don't think that is exactly what Fawnda is talking about here, but it is another kind of "love budget". I would highly recommend it!!