Most of us have endured seasons and times in our lives when we were forced to “live on a shoestring,” an old expression that means to live prudently and economically—and usually more tightly than we want to. I’m sure you’ve gone through occasional unexpected and harsh seasons of life where you were driven to cut back drastically in your budget and spending and to live as frugally as possible. In today’s economic times, with rising costs and inflation challenging us at every turn, most of us are searching for ways to economize whether we want to or not.
Moving up in finances is always easier than moving back. We celebrate moving forward, making more money, advancing in our careers and lives, but we bemoan the times when we have reverses. But easy or hard, we have to keep moving on, to make the changes needed to accommodate hard times and to create new beginnings. John Wooden wrote: “If we fail to adapt, we fail to move forward.” What we don’t want to do is value ourselves only by our money and position like the wealthy who leaped from buildings, committing suicide, in the Stock Market crash of 1929. It’s sad to think that anyone would rather die than to face a decrease in their way of living. Better to follow the words of Joseph Kennedy: “When life gets tough, the tough get going.”
Obviously with any income cutback, you have to sit down and look realistically at your financial situation and figure out how you can cut expenses and sometimes, how you can make a little more money to offset the losses faced. Where to begin? I think you start by looking at the basics in your life and seeing which of those you can adapt. For most, the basics are housing, food, transportation, clothing, and critical bills like water, electricity, phone, and other monthly expenses that can’t be eliminated easily. We tend to think these basics are “set in stone” when there are ways we can reduce many of them. Often we can move to housing that is less expensive, we can sell a car with a big car payment for one with a smaller one. Too many times we wrongly think our homes or cars or other possession define us when they do not. Marcus Aurelius wrote: “It is not our possessions or external circumstances that define us, but rather our inner strength and moral integrity.” Frequently, if we will admit it, too,“We buy things we don’t need with money we don’t have to impress people we don’t even like” [Chuck Palahniuk]. That attitude change is a part of the adjustment we need to make in economizing, to change our views about possessions and their meaning in our lives. We are too often possessed by our possessions. But we can change.
Studies show regularly buying too many clothes, shoes, bags and accessories is a widespread habit in America. People often don’t shop because they need anything but mostly for social and emotional reasons, and most people buy more than they can afford in clothing and other items. This is a quick area we can all change our spending habits in to economize. We can make do with clothing we have without buying more until totally necessary, and we can learn to thrift shop for needed clothing items, going to charity sales or thrift stores, and heading first to the half-price sales rack for clothing needs. Vivienne Westwood wrote: “Buy less, choose well, make it last.” When you need to buy clothing, buy good basics that don’t go readily out of fashion or out of style. Buy clothing items that easily mix-and-match which provide more versatility. Change out of your nicer clothes when you come home from work, school, or being out of the home and put on older clothes for around the house and yard. Keep in mind that children grow fast. Don’t spend excessively on their clothes or shoes, knowing they will soon outgrow them. You’ll often find great clothes, shoes, baby items, and children’s toys at garage and charity sales, too. Keep in mind that it is adults that are often “hung up” about brand names and clothing status, not little kids, unless you teach them those values. Teach them instead to “smart shop” finding quality clothing and brand names at thrift prices. Be especially watchful today of mindlessly shopping online and being lured to buy and charge unneeded items you’re tempted with.
A recent 2024 study found that 42% of Americans report they are not able to live within their means with much of their financial concerns due to “overspending.” What causes this? The desire to keep up with the Joneses, letting expenses unintentionally creep up, shopping by impulse and for escapism, refusing to readjust budget spending for inflation, and slipping too easily into debt with the overuse of credit cards. The latter is especially scary and every individual should sit down and realistically find a way to avoid any credit card debt and to get out of any existing card debt. Our rule at home is to seldom use credit cards at all and if we do to pay them off as the bill arrives. We recently misplaced a small credit bill from a local department store and the interest tacked on for it being late added as much as the original item price to what we had to pay. Credit card interest rates have grown astronomically, making incurring card debt a budget threat to anyone. As Benjamin Franklin once said: “He that goes a borrowing goes a sorrowing.” Getting out of debt and avoiding debt are two of the best ways to see that your budget woes do not increase.
After sitting down to realistically figure out ways to cut and save in basics … it’s time to look at all the little non-essentials that steal from our income. A Lending Tree 2023 study found that 77% of Americans say it’s essential for them to buy and have the latest technology products and gadgets, like phones, computers, smartwatches, televisions, gaming equipment, and tech accessories, and they won’t hesitate to go into debt to purchase these products, even when their current products are in good condition. This excessive purchasing habit trend affects all generational groups and income levels. Additionally, more than 28% of Americans surveyed said they’d prioritize these purchases over other needed financial obligations, even rent and bills. This area needs some moral and character analysis. As S.W. Straus said: “Thrift is not an affair of the pocket, but an affair of character.”
Other nonessentials that Americans overspend on include exercise equipment and gym memberships, entertainments like movies, shows, and expensive concerts, sports events and season tickets for sporting events, yard, garden, and home furnishings, tools, and other items. Additionally, Americans spend an excessive amount of their budget on restaurants, bars, and eating out. One recent study found that the average American eats our five to six times a week either in restaurants, or via ordering takeout or delivery. A MinnPost survey found Americans overall spend about $70 billion eating out every month. The reasons people give for this spending trend is mainly that they don’t feel like cooking, that eating out is more convenient or more social. It is also more expensive to the budget and eating out frequently can lead to increased weight and higher medical expenses due to the large food portions, the additional calories, sugar, and unhealthy fats in restaurant portions. One study noted the potential expense of eating out versus cooking at home costs the average American $300 more in finances every month. A way to quickly save money and to benefit your health is to eat the majority of all meals at home. The average home meal costs $4.23 per person versus over $16 per meal out by the time drinks, tips, and taxes are added in. A Penn state research study found that people who dined out frequently tended to underestimate what they spend and to rationalize their reasons for eating out, causing this pricey habit to destroy their efforts to budget successfully. All too often these meals out get paid with credit cards, and in the third quarter of 2024, the average American household had about $8,871 in credit card debt.
Healthcare sits in the middle between being an essential expense and a nonessential expense. According to a study in the American Medical Association, the annual cost of wasteful spending in healthcare has ranged from $760 billion to $935 billion in recent years. This waste could be services and processes that are either harmful to or don’t provide real benefits, with excess costs that could be replaced with services or products with cheaper alternatives. We get caught up in this excessive spending, following unwisely along, incurring too many elective doctor visits and elective surgeries, and readily accepting too many prescription drugs when life changes might be a better alternative. Additionally, four in ten adults have medical debts and pay huge monthly costs for drugs. According to multiple studies Americans are also considered to be highly overmedicated. Consumer Reports called it “America’s Love Affair with Prescription Medication” and Forbes reported that America leads the world in high rates of unnecessary elective surgeries. Spine and orthopedic surgeries and joint replacements lead the list with studies suggesting 50% of these surgeries unnecessary. This is a troubling trend. But we participate in these problems, cooperating eagerly to schedule surgeries and fill yet more prescriptions. As Andrew Weil wrote: “Modern American medicine treats almost every health condition as if it were an emergency.” Be watchful about overspending in the medical arena.
Vacations and holidays are another area where people habitually overspend. According to a recent Deloitte study Americans are expected to spend about $1,638 on gifts, travel and entertainment this holiday season despite ongoing economic challenges, and most of this money will be in consumer debt to be paid off in the new year. For many that is over a week’s salary and the average American has not put away that money in savings in preparation. A LendingTree research report explained that an estimated one-third of American adults go into debt to pay for holiday expenses. Even sadder, a new survey from WalletHub found that 46% of American are still paying off the debt from last Christmas as this Christmas approaches and will probably soon add to that debt even more. An answer here is to bargain shop more carefully for Christmas gifts, to put away money for Christmas all year, or possibly to make gifts for many. Watch, too, lavish ticket costs to go to Christmas productions and instead attend the many fine Christmas shows and concerts free at local churches and area schools and facilities. The answer is not to quit giving but to find a way to plan holiday giving more wisely.
We all individually, and as a family, need a break and a vacation from our hectic work and everyday lives. Vacations are healthy for individuals and families, but they can add another economic strain to a tightening budget. A recent 2024 study noted that about 90% of Americans plan a vacation each year and the average cost of the one-week vacation they will take will cost between an average of $1,991 to over $5,728 … with the cost rising for families. Many will stay in motels or hotels, all of which have gone up in price to closer to $100 per night or more. Food will cost more adding about $58 per day per person and entertainments possibly $55 per day more. Gasoline prices have increased, too, for drivers and campers as have airfares. What’s the answer to avoid going into heavy debt? Research to find places to stay in villas or cabins where you can cook most of your meals in. Many less popular spots and state parks have rentals that will reduce the average vacation stay expenses. If possible travel off season and plan activities that don’t further stretch the budget. Most every vacation arena has nearby free attractions, parks, historic sites, hiking trails, lakes and beaches that are free to enjoy. Even in lean years when the children were small, we found economical places for a family vacation, like at a beach or lake or in the mountains, where we could enjoy time away together to make some good memories without incurring debt.
By our lifestyles for good or ill—by our own choices—we can create either blessings for our lives or more problems. In financial areas, we often create our own serious problems and can be our own worst enemies in creating a fiscally responsible life for ourselves and our families. Catherine Pulsifer wisely wrote: “Being frugal does not mean being cheap. It means being economical and avoiding waste” and Dave Ramsey, an expert on spending, would add, “Budget is telling your money where to go instead of wondering where it went.” We can all budget and live with more wisdom and prudence in our spending, without sacrificing a good and happy life. Calvin Coolidge wrote: “There is no dignity quite so impressive, and no one independence quite so important, as living within your means.”
If you’re a person of faith, a good point to remember is that all your money really comes from and belongs to the Lord. He expects you to be a wise steward of what He has given you and allowed you to earn with your work and life. I believe, too, that a strong faith in God helps us in tempering our natural desires and realizing the things that are truly important. In truth, you either choose to take care of your life, your finances, and your body or you don’t. And even if you go through a dark financial time, God will help you through and out of it. The Bible is full of good counsel to help with finances and there are many fine books to help you learn to manage your financial life better. Study to find a wise and prudent way to live your life. We each have so much power to change our world simply by being wise and careful in what we buy.
You may be “living on a shoestring” right now, living with very little money, with limited funds to the thinness of a shoelace, but you can work to improve your life and your resources. Never believe that life won’t and can’t turn around for the better. If you read of the lives of all great men and women, you’ll find most all went through some dark and grim times, many worse than any you have ever experienced. So never give up on a better tomorrow, keep hope and work hard to make your future better. “No matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow” [Maya Angelou]. Do your part in turning your future into a better one. Sit down and think wisely and well of all the big and small changes you can make to improve your life and finances. “It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up” [Babe Ruth]. Yes, change is difficult and requires discipline but you can do it. You can make the changes you need to make to create a financially responsible life. A closing thought: “For things to change you need to change. For things to get better you need to get better. The good news is you can change, you can get better and you can start right where you are at and you can go as far as you want to go” [Jim Rohn].
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Note: All photos my own, from royalty free sites, or used only as a part of my author repurposed storyboards shown only for educational and illustrative purposes, acc to the Fair Use Copyright law, Section 107 of the Copyright Act.
Many people today say we need a revival in America. What is Revival? Do we understand what it means, know anything about the history of revival and of the changes a revival might bring to our lives, the lives of America’s churches, and to our nation? I thought I’d look at this term “revival” for my blog this month, do some research, and give some understandings about what a revival is and what we might expect to see in a revival.
A new survey found that although 74% of people in America believe in God, a much smaller majority, about 25%, are affiliated with a church or religious group. This is the highest level of non-religiosity in American history, alarming for America’s churches. Within the results of this study, percentages showed that for most surveyed their idea of faith lined up very little with the principles and tenets of the Word of God. As an old evangelist once said, “They’ve got something else figured out.” Why? Most studies point to Biblical illiteracy as the primary negative issue affecting believer’s faith. Without a solid grounding in God’s Word, believers become susceptible to spiritual error and indifference, to spiritual stagnation, and moral compromise. Scott Roberts wrote: “Most church goers don’t know who God is today, and the authority of God is relativized, marginalized, or selectively interpreted to suit personal preferences or cultural norms. This erosion of biblical authority undermines the foundation of the Christian faith…This diminished understanding of God’s sovereignty, holiness, and character has profound implications for the American church’s spirituality and mission…Ours is a world in desperate need of redemption and transformation.”
Perhaps people have tried to turn things around. Perhaps the churches have tried. But America’s faith is falling into a sad estate. In a Revival, God intervenes. “Revival is an invasion from heaven that brings a conscious awareness of God” [Stephen F. Oxford]. “Revival is when God gets so sick and tired of being misrepresented that He shows up Himself” [Leonard Ravenhill]. “Revival is a divine disruption. It is a time when God intervenes in our affairs and interrupts our activities. It is a time when God makes our comfort-zone Christianity feel uncomfortable. [Tom Palmer]. “When is revival needed? When carelessness and unconcern keep the people asleep…A revival does two things. First, it returns the Church from their backsliding and second, it causes the conversion of men and women; and it always includes the conviction of sin on the part of the Church. What a spell the devil seems to cast over the Church today!” [Billy Sunday].
Churches often hold revivals, and we often think of a revival in those terms, as a meeting when a minister or evangelist visits in order to draw church members to a stronger place in the Lord and to lead the lost to salvation. But a true national revival is far more than this. True revival is “a sovereign, sudden, selected, sensational operation of the Spirit of God, descending in the midst of prayer, which produces purity and reaches the perishing” [Ken Connelly]. Most of us today have never experienced a true and mighty revival or experienced the mighty works of God [Judges 2:10].
Charles Finney himself tells of going to one of these meetings, skeptical as a well-educated man and a believer, determined to stay strong and not yield to any of the “nervous excitability” he’d heard about and the fervent emotionalism. But as soon as he entered the meeting he was hit by the supernatural power that he purposed to resist. He even ran away from the spirit of God trying to impact him, but even on the route home was overcome by conviction and the emotions of his heart. He said God impacted him in such a way “people thought him deranged” and yet that converted Charles Finney went on to become a great evangelist and minister. He led revivals, led multitudes to the Lord and taught ministers. His direct, informal, and personal style offended many formal preachers of the day who felt he destroyed the dignity of the pulpit and might not appeal to the more educated in their congregations. They were soon proved wrong. Finney wrote: “Revival is a renewed conviction of sin and repentance, followed by an intense desire to live in obedience to God. It is giving up one’s will to God in deep humility…. and if the presence of God is in the church, the church will draw the world in. If the presence of God is not in the church, the world will draw the church out.” Many said Finney changed American religion. Every minister and evangelist in the Great Awakening seemed to have a different style of ministry, as led by the Lord, but each brought God to the nation.
Billy Sunday was another impacted and changed by the revival meetings of the Second Great Awakening. He played baseball for the Chicago White Sox but at a big revival meeting in Chicago he got saved and left baseball to become a pastor and evangelist. God used him greatly to preach to over 100,000 people with a compelling simplicity and anointing that brought thousands to the Lord. Clergymen disliked his informal style and undoubtedly envied how God used him to bring change to so many. His sermons were filled with warmth, humor, and conviction. “The trouble with many men,” he preached, “is they have got just enough religion to make them miserable. If there is not joy in religion, you have got a leak in your religion.”…Billy Sunday often used baseball terms and actions on the stage: “The devil says I’m out, but the Lord says I’m safe.” He preached salvation in a direct way people could respond to and with the anointing on his words: “Conversion is a complete surrender to Jesus. It’s a willingness to do what He wants you to do.”
People didn’t even want to go home and stayed on and on, not wanting to leave the anointing at these sites. A presbyterian pastor wrote: “No person seemed to wish to go home—hunger and sleep seemed to affect nobody—eternal things were the best concern… Sober professors, who had been communicants for many years, now lay prostrate on the ground crying out.” What incredible stories. How long has it been since you’ve been in a service so anointed that you didn’t want to leave, forgot to look at your watch?
This was a time when people had given up on miracles, when many no longer believed in God or the power of God, and yet God showed men and women in this time who He was. If He did this again in another mighty revival, would you be a scoffer or a believer? Would you be open and eager to embrace all that God might do, or distance yourself from any revival meetings, fearful that your beliefs might be challenged? The Bible says ‘If we are faithless, He remains true and faithful to His Word, for He cannot deny himself.” [II Timothy 2:13]
Revivals bring good, needed change. They blow new life into Christians individually and into the church. Henry Blackaby wrote: “Revival is a divinely initiated work in which God’s people pray, repent of their sins, and return to holy, Spirit-filled, obedient, loving relationship with God.”
I live in the city of Knoxville, Tennessee, a short distance from the Smoky Mountains. In my part of the world, we experience the four seasons… a warm but pleasant summer, a pretty, colorful fall, a cold and sometimes snowy winter, and a lovely spring, rich with flowers and new growth. “Hurricane” is a word we’ve heard often enough here in Tennessee and my Appalachian area, but generally to our way of thinking it relates to the coastal areas of the United States. When those harsh tropical storms blow into the panhandle or up the east coast areas of the southeast United States, we watch the reports, remembering those we know and love who live in those areas that might be affected, praying for them, checking on them. Sometimes as the rains and winds from hurricanes and tropical storms blow inland, we get a lot more wind and rain than normal, occasionally flooding, Sometimes, trees are felled by wind or too much rain in the soil. But we rarely if ever see any really destructive weather damage.
In the past. Knoxville and East Tennessee has received a little wollop from Hurricanes like Hugo, Opal, Frances, and Ivan that packed enough wind to topple trees and power lines. Sometimes low-lying roads and trails in the valley here around Knoxville and in the Smokies get flooded and the roads closed, but Hurricane Helene sent our region a sweep of frightening damage and destruction most of us, even those of us who grew up here like me, have never seen before.
As Hurricane Helene moved closer to the gulf coast and the Panhandle last week, the reports began to predict that the cone, and the storm, would roll up through the southeast, bringing us a lot of rain and wind. It was Florida though and some of lower Georgia that were told to prepare, to batten down the hatches, to possibly evacuate in especially vulnerable areas. Most of us around the Appalachian area, so much further north, didn’t even race out to the store to get bread, milk, and some groceries, to get extra water, to fill the bathtub, to make preparations for possible power outs or problems as with the occasional winter snowstorms we get.
Hurricane Helene streaked into the coast, a large, fierce storm, but soon downgraded as it began to move inland, except that the storm was wide and filled with ongoing rain and wind, especially heavy, heavy rain. It had actually been raining somewhat heavily around many Appalachian areas of Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, and South Carolina a couple of days before Helene even moved in, which didn’t help things as Helene’s rains progressed our way and it rained and rained, and then rained and rained some more. Swollen rivers began to overflow their banks. Flood reports began to come in from many areas. And the ongoing rains didn’t stop. In many areas felled trees and flooding began to create power outages, storm damage, and unexpected worries. Those unexpected problems escalated as Helene began to linger on and on over our area.
We began to hear reports that conditions were really bad in many areas, that roads were closed, farmlands and homes inundated with water, and even towns along the rivers flooding and the waters raging. People were stupefied. It was so unexpected, and much of it came more rapidly than anyone envisioned, too. Evacuations began as the turbulent floodwaters crept into businesses, people’s homes, and over more and more of the towns and lands around the Tennessee and North Carolina mountain areas, all so familiar to us. Festivals in the Smokies—like one where we were scheduled to sign books—cancelled, businesses shut their doors, roads were closing because they’d become impassable. People began to be warned of more imminent danger to come, too, from the ongoing rain, floodwaters, felled trees, and more.
Many of us, like J.L. and I were stunned and shocked, as footage began to show up on internet sites, Facebook, and the news channels of whole towns being flooded, roads being washed away, homes underwater to their roofs. We simply don’t see sights like these in our region and it was hard to look at the images and realize how close to our home they were. Farmers began to see their entire fields, barns and outbuildings being covered with water, often too swiftly and unexpectedly to get their equipment and animals out safely. What had been predicted to be a heavy storm quickly turned into a nightmare.
By Saturday, more and more unprecedented catastrophes were being recorded. Here in our part of Knoxville, we were blessedly safe, the rains dissipating some, everything soggy but with little damage reported near us. But almost every road in the Smoky Mountains closed and streams and rivers there had turned into a torrent, flooding over walls into the streets of Gatlinburg and Sevierville, flooding side roads and hiking trails, washing out sections of the Appalachian Trail. Signs were posted asking people not to come to the Smokies at all and soon we began to learn the flooding and problems there were larger than we knew.
Western North Carolina especially got pummeled with Hurricane Helene. Flooding seemed to be everywhere. Trees felled in many areas, and power outages increased. Large sections of towns along streams and rivers like Waynesville, Sylva, and Asheville were soon awash in flood waters. Towns, large and small, like Hartford and Hot Springs between Tennessee and North Carolina, were soon flooded, streets torn away by the water, buildings collapsing and rolling downstream. In Erwin and Unicoi County, in the Tri-Cities area of East Tennessee, the Nolichucky River went crazy, breaching its banks and turning into a wild rampaging river, grabbing homes and barns in its teeth and swirling them downriver to crash them into bridges. Buildings were soon submerged in floodwaters. Fifty-four people were stranded on the Unicoi County Hospital roof and efforts to rescue them by boat and helicopter failed. They spent seven hours in fear on the roof watching the roaring flood waters all around before they could finally be rescued.
Area dams in these areas were pushed to capacity, with water cresting over the dams and flowing around the sides of the dams. A number of flash flood warnings were put out that dams were close to imminent failure and affected residents warned to evacuate like at the Nolichucky Dam. The Waterville Dam, just over the state line in North Carolina, sent out warnings, too, as did the Lake Lure Dam in Rutherford County, North Carolina. Other dams around the TN and NC area began to send water spilling through all their gates, because of the critical need to handle the water buildups, but this brought flooding to many areas along the rivers below.
The dams held, blessedly, but the waters rushing down the river and the streams continued to bring more and more damage and chaos. The small tourist town of Chimney Rock was completely destroyed by the flooding, the town a rubble of ruined buildings with roads torn apart, trees felled, and bridges destroyed. The pictures were heartbreaking to see. Water roared through the main roads of Maggie Valley and flooded nearby Waynesville, North Carolina. The town of Asheville was soon flooding in many areas, too, like around Tunnel Road, and the historic Biltmore Village was soon almost submerged with flood waters from the Swannanoa River. The waters also flooded the town of Marshall and other nearby areas. The floodings spread down to Hendersonville and into South Carolina towns like Greenville and Spartanburg. People began to be trapped on rooftops and in upper stories of homes and buildings. Mud and rain filled the roads with power-outages everywhere. Deaths were being reported, not only in Florida where Hurricane Helene first hit, but in Georgia, South Carolina, into North Carolina, and Tennessee.
On Saturday, a huge section of Interstate 40 between Tennessee and North Carolina, heading toward Asheville, totally collapsed, closing the interstate. Soon other major roads were closed, like I-26 not far from Johnson City, where whole sections washed out from flooding. Continuing road closures soon left Asheville virtually stranded with no safe way to come or go and with much of the city without power, cell service, or safe water. It was incredible to see this major city brought nearly to a standstill with rescue operations continuing all around the city and the nearby North Carolina area.
I saw videos of farmers weeping over their horses and animals lost, of their crops destroyed. Having just traveled all through Georgia, I saw, as one farmer said, the cotton and peanut crops ready to harvest, and remember the huge tracts of pecan groves, many now destroyed. Dairy farmers who use machines, now with power out, can’t milk the cows and they are suffering, and the farmers sorrows and losses will impact the availability and prices in our grocery stores to come. This makes me realize how much more a part of each other we are than we realize.
Life so often brings us surprises we don’t expect, too. We often think we have control over our lives and our world but then find we do not. Life, instead, is full of unexpected twists and turns. We have to all become resilient in this life, able to stand through those dark and unexpected times, to be strong enough to survive and overcome the unexpected. I am a person of great faith and believe strongly in the protection of God and in the power of prayer. But as Julius Caesar wrote, “No one is so brave that he is not disturbed by something unexpected.” And these unexpected tragedies in our Appalachian area of the world have certainly been that.
Perhaps you have been grieved and shocked over the devastation from Hurricane Helene. Undoubtedly, you have watched the news in distress and seen the painful photos of the destruction. Concern is good and prayer is good, and we should all be praying and concerned for those in hurt and need, but we should also reach out and “give” tangibly. Research, pray, and seek for a route to give money and help in some way, through a reputable helping source you know of that will get help directly to those in need. Look for one that is already reaching out to take in supplies, aid, water, and food and be wary of scammers or organizations that keep the major portions of funds received within their organizational structure. Search, pray and ask God “What can I do?” If you know anyone personally that is suffering want or need or loss, then reach out directly to be a help. As Proverbs 3:27 advises, don’t ‘withhold help when it is in your hand to do good to those in need.’ Be a giver; find a way to freely give. In all areas of your life, not just in a calamity, look for ways to give back for all the blessings you enjoy. And “When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive—to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love” [Marcus Aurelius]. We have so much to be grateful for every day that we so often take for granted.
Our parents and grandparents often make the comments “When I was a boy …” or “When I was a girl …” remembering earlier times and reminding us of how much things can change in our world in only fifty to sixty years or more. I used to smile at these remembrances of change and still do … but it’s actually remarkable to realize how much our culture and society has changed in so short a time. Only a hundred years ago in the United States, the average family was just beginning to drive Model T automobiles. Most families were only beginning to get telephones then, too, and television or computers hadn’t even been invented. Shopping in those times only involved a limited number of small groceries, a few department stores and family-owned shops.
I think it’s good, sometimes, to look back and think about how life has changed in our world. It helps us to be grateful for new inventions and positive changes, and it also helps us to see ways in which our world might have been better in past. So, my blog post for September offers a look back to help us see changes between “then-and-now” from the 1950s and 1960s to today. Many of you, or your parents or grandparents, may well recall the 50s and 60s, but it’s all too easy to forget those times, too, and how much life has changed since then.
The average home in the 50s-60s was different from those of today. Most suburban homes were smaller, with about two to three bedrooms, one bathroom, a living room, kitchen, dining area, a single car garage, and usually a large yard if not in the city. Some people had started to put air-conditioning units in their homes in the 1950s but in others window fans were the norm. Central heating was a little more common but many homes still had furnaces, fireplaces, or wood stoves. Home backyards often had a garden and people mowed their grass with a push-mower.
Appliances we know today were different, too. Most all homes had stoves and refrigerators—and many had a freezer for vegetables from the garden–but microwaves, electric can openers, icemakers, disposals, electric knives, and many other time-saving devices were not yet invented. Homes had washing machines but dryers didn’t become common until after the 1960s. People hung their laundry out to dry on clotheslines in the back yard. In the 1950s, and even into the 1960s, most women could—and did—sew, and often made many of the family’s clothes. Home sewing was actually a billion-dollar industry in the 1950s. People had smaller closets in their homes and fewer clothes then, too.
In every era people dress differently, and men, women, and children, dressed differently in the 50s-60s than today. Many women still didn’t wear pants out in public and wore dresses or skirts instead. In most schools, girls could not wear pants in school at all. On very cold days, they could wear pants under their skirts to school but then removed them and put them in their lockers. It wasn’t until the 1970s that trousers for women became fashionable and acceptable. Boys wore slacks with tuck in button front shirts to school. And when girls and boys got home from school, they changed into play clothes.
For special occasions and always for church, everyone dressed up, which is probably where we got the term “Sunday Best.” It was considered respectful to God to dress in your best for church services. Women wore hats to church in those years, and often gloves—especially at Easter. Skirts generally were no shorter than just above the knee. Men wore neat suits to work in sales and in the professions and they often wore hats. However, men’s hats were removed indoors, especially in church.
By the 1970s hats for men and women faded away in popularity except for baseball caps, which became somewhat of a staple for young men in less formal places and still are today. Bathing suits were more modest than today, and bikinis and shorter skirts for women didn’t kick in until the late 60s and 70s. About the only place you saw a picture of a bra or intimate underwear was in a Sears and Roebuck catalog. It wasn’t until the late 1980s that the first bra commercial aired on television, but with the model fully clothed and only holding up the undergarment. These days, walking by a Victoria’s Secret store reminds us that our society doesn’t mind showing men or women in intimate apparel or even unclothed on television or in movies.
In the 50s and 60s, most families had one car. Even in 1960, only 15% of families had two cars. Children rode the school bus or walked to school if it was nearby. Many fathers, like mine, rode the city bus to work most days to leave the family car with their wives for errands if she didn’t also work, too. With the economy rising after World War II, and the dollar going further, many families could live on only one income then. Wives with small children were able to stay home and not work if desired, but by the late 1960s into the 1970s, dual-earner couples increased. Today, with our economy less strong, fewer mothers can stay home with their children in their younger years. Since the 1960s, too, more doors have opened to women in more fields, previously closed to them, and traditional concepts about the work roles appropriate for men and women have changed dramatically.
In the fifties and sixties, vacations were simpler for most families than today. Family togetherness was important after World War II and the country’s increasing prosperity allowed many families to take a summer vacation to a beach, resort, campground, or scenic site together or they traveled to visit family in another state to enjoy time with them. Wealthy people have always taken vacations since the earliest of times, but in the 50s-60s, working-class people began to enjoy a taste of travel and vacationing, too. In these years, children also began to enjoy summer opportunities to go to day camps, scout and church camps, and to participate in other away-from-home experiences like band and sports camps. Families also spent more times on weekends and holidays together at the lake, at public swimming pools, at the zoo or nearby parks. Children began to enjoy new pleasures they hadn’t known before, going to movies, bowling, skating, and taking paid lessons in sports, dance, tennis, swimming, piano, baton, or guitar. Not all families could enjoy or afford these treats but more did than before in the 50s-60s, and families lived modestly to save for and enjoy these pleasures.
Children ran and played outdoors a great deal in the 1950s-1960s. Times were safer and children had more liberty in their neighborhoods, especially in rural and suburban ones. Kids rode their bikes or skateboards, played hopscotch, croquet, badminton, roller-skated, and enjoyed baseball or softball in the backyards or fields. They giggled with hula hoops, drew hopscotch boards on the street or driveway, climbed trees, played pretend cowboy games and outdoor games like red rover and kick-the-can, spread old quilts under the shade trees and played with toys, dolls, and games. Board games became more popular, too, as did puzzles. Teenagers played records and listened to the radio, went to school dances, and watched American Bandstand on television. However, even when the first TVs came into the homes in the 1950s and 1960s, families watched it in far more limited amounts than today. Kids played outdoors much more than today and used their imaginations to come up with all sorts of play activities and adventures.
Eating out was not the norm in the 1950s and 1960s as it is today. There were fewer restaurants, and for the average family, eating out was considered a luxury only for special occasions. Families ate at home together for most all their meals, and the family meal time was a traditional time for sharing and spending time together. Most families ate home-cooked meals at dinner with a meat, vegetables or salad, bread or rolls, and a dessert. People ate mainly fresh, non-processed foods, their vegetables and fruits often from the family garden, a nearby farmer’s market, or the local grocery near their home. Very little junk food was found in the home then like we know it now. People lived healthier, eating better and being more active in their homes and out-of-doors than the bulk of our society today. Only 10% of adults were classified as obese during the 1950s and fewer children. Now over 40% of adults and nearly 20% of children are obese, and far more are overweight. In this area, our world has not improved in its habits and lifestyle.
The moral culture was different in the 1950s and 1960s. This era was more conservative, less materialistic, more value-laden, and more caring. It was a time that linked right and wrong to Biblical values, although not all the cultural norms of the time were right. Some studies call the cultural time of the 50s-60s more “other-directed” than “Inner-directed.” Communities and families were tighter, more in touch. The era valued good morals, manners, a strong work ethic, patriotism, and faith more than our culture today, basing practices for government, school, and home around these values. That strong moral foundation and set of related values permeated all social institutions, from government to military, healthcare, church, and family. Today, studies show we have seen a significant decline in the value of virtues like honesty, kindness, and trustworthiness, plus a marked decline in respect for authority and parents, and less clear lines between good and bad, ethics and evil. These changes have also caused more societal conflict, unrest, anxiety, unhappiness and depression, and more violence.
We have also seen a drop in educational scores since the 1950s-1960s and more problems with discipline in American schools. All research has shown that a reading society is a strong society, yet the value of reading and the number of people engaging in reading has declined significantly since the 50s and 60s. Americans are reading fewer books than in past and our national literacy rates are declining. Technology has contributed in part to this decline. Children and adults consistently look at their phones and other devices and are easily distracted by the immediate response of technology. Additionally, parents don’t read at home and model a love for reading as much as in past, and children are following in the same pathways they see modeled. This and other administrative and governmental problems are eroding the strength and effectiveness of our educational system and creating an increasing percentage of children who cannot read at basic levels. These changes have not been positive ones since the 50s-60s.
Few people today can look around and not see that we have problems in our world. Of course, every culture and era has societal problems. Although we can all look back and see many progressive and positive changes in our world since the 50s and 60s, we can also look back and see many negative and detrimental changes in our society since that time, too. The question, of course, is whether we can rightly evaluate the areas where we’ve slipped away and turn around and make positive changes to correct the difficulties in our homes, families, educational and political systems, and in our own personal lives a well. Mark Twain once wrote: “We are chameleons, and our partialities and prejudices change places with an easy and blessed facility, and we are wonted to the change and happy in it” often to our detriment. People get settled in their ways, even in wrong ways, and they resist change. President Woodrow Wilson wrote, “If you want to make enemies, try to change something.” However, despite the resistance people inherently have to change, we can change and create a better version of ourselves and our world. If we will. Perhaps looking back can help us see where we missed the better path in some area or where we need to take a new and different path to a better future.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” [ Margaret Mead}
I’ve been working on a new novel, with a wildflower-herb farm and shop at its center, and as I have delved into research for the book, I’m been reminded again and again of the benefit of plants on our earth and of our frequent lack of gratitude for them. Plants include all the huge variety of trees, flowers, shrubs, herbs, mosses, grasses, and ferns that make up the plant world. Plants are extremely diverse and complex and there are millions of different species. All plants are made up of similar parts, like roots, stems, and leaves, but the most important thing about plants is that we cannot live on earth without them. Plants make oxygen, and all living things need it to breathe. Plants give us food, shade, and shelter, plus needful products like wood to build our homes, fuel, foods, and products we need and use in our world.
I think we are less schooled today than our ancestors, who lived in a more agriculturally based society, about the aesthetic and health value of plants. As I was reading about early Appalachian culture, for the family farm and shop in my story, I read often of how children were taught from young ages, in the past, about the natural world all around them. They were taught the names of trees, shrubs and flowers, learning which ones they could eat safely, which were poisonous. On walks through the woods, they learned characteristics about mosses and ferns, wildflowers, trees, and plant roots. They also learned to cultivate and grow all types of plants and flowers. My mother grew up in a large farm family and my father’s family gardened, too. I look back and remember with fondness their constant stories about the land, its plants, the trees. They carried such knowledge of the natural world. They knew how to plant and garden, how to care for and respect the beauty around them. I know they passed that love and respect for nature along to me. Even in my busy life, focused around other pursuits more than around gardening, I still appreciate all I see of nature’s beauty and I want to see it protected and reverenced.
On my bookshelves are many books about landscape gardening, plants, flowers, and herbs. I pull them out often to get ideas for gardening and planting in my yard, for understandings about my indoor houseplants, and to identify the trees, plants, and flowers I see when hiking or visiting parks, gardens, and outdoor sites. You can learn a great deal about plants just from books, with their glorious illustrations, and from studying the plants around your neighborhood and area where you live. From books and talking to other gardeners, you can learn there are right and wrong ways to plan landscaping for your yard or property.
Trees are always a healthy addition to begin with. They provide shade and should be planted to “frame” the house in a pleasing manner. Trees should go around the edges of your site and are especially pleasing when arranged in uneven numbers. That rule is good for shrubs and flowers, too. Shrubs and flowers should fill in around a home’s foundations and around the edges of a landscape site. Taller shrubs and plants should be placed to the back of a landscaped flower bed with gradually decreasing sized plants next, ending with some low growing plants or groundcovers at the edges. Large flowering plants like hollyhocks, foxglove, or gladiolus grow best against a wall or fence where they don’t overpower smaller plants in front of them and where they can be staked if needed. Other taller flowers like clumps of coneflowers, daylilies, purple phlox, and black-eyed Susan need a place toward the back of flowerbeds, too, or a wide area to themselves where they can grow tall and spread without overpowering plants beside or in front of them either. The impact and success of every garden lies in its initial design. Every yard needs a nice balance of trees, foundational shrubs, and some beds of plants and flowers to look its best—and not too many in number, type, and color. Kind of like inside your house, a yard needs a plan and a color scheme to look its best. It just takes a little thought, research, and planning to create a pleasant yard or an appealing flowerbed
Unless you take gardening courses or read extensively, the best way to decide on the right tree, shrub, plant, and flower species for your yard is to walk around your neighborhood or in nearby neighborhoods or garden areas to see what’s growing well. Trees and plants filled this world long before we did, with the fittest surviving best among all the other species. Your own climate, soil, and weather conditions dictate what will grow best in your regional area, yard or garden, without excessive cultivation and struggle. Make it easy on yourself and plant the types of trees, shrubs, plants, and flowers you see growing well everywhere you go. In my book story, my characters and farm owners, shop employees, and landscapers will advise their clients in that way, so they won’t set them up for failure in the herbs, perennials, wildflowers, and other indoor or outdoor plants they choose.
I’ve especially enjoyed reading about not only the healthy impact of plants on our world but about the healthy uses for plants, perennials, and herbs for cooking, making teas and herbal and wildflower products. As a quick garden reminder, perennial plants will come back and regrow year after year while annuals die off after temperatures get too cold and generally require you to plant new ones the following year. Trees are perennial plants, although I’m learning that some trees, like people, have longer lifespans than others. The same is true with many perennial flowers and sometimes a harsh, cold winter can harm even hardy perennials, shrubs, and flowering plants. Gardening is never one-hundred percent predictable, just like life.
If you have space in your yard or garden, pollinators are a lovely option to consider. Native plants in pollinator gardens attract bees, birds, butterflies or other pollinators that carry the pollen between flowers causing fertilization, good fruits and viable seeds. This creates a healthier and more robust ecosystem. Unfortunately, worldwide there is evidence that pollinating bees, and animals have suffered from pesticides, invasive species, and environmental pollution so working to plant pollinators will help combat these losses. Some good pollinators to consider are: asters, black-eyed Susans, blanket flowers or gaillardias, ironweeds or vernonia, goldenrod, bee balm, orange milkweed, lavender, joe pye weed, red columbine, coreopsis or tickseed, coneflowers, wild purple geranium, pink swamp roses, sunflowers and many more. These native plants can also be used in making herbal products, oils, lotions, potpourri, wreaths, and soaps. Many are also edible, too, and good for baked goods. If you have a large space in your yard or on your property, you can create a pollinator garden of plants in big patches or clumps, planning a diversity of types so some bloom in spring, others in summer or fall. Many pollinators are herbaceous perennials and once established will return again and again. But please don’t use pesticides or chemicals on these plants.
Herbs are especially easy to grow both inside and outdoors in the right location and climate. Actually, herbs are some of the easiest plants for beginners to grow. They can be grown in the garden in rows, in raised garden containers or in the house in a spot with plenty of sunshine. I enjoyed learning that herbs don’t mind being communal and that different herbs will grow happily in the same container, three to a 14-inch-wide container or five to an 18-inch container. I also liked the idea of planting a row of different herbs in a long window box containers. Once established, you can just pinch off leaves as needed for cooking or for making soaps or herbal products.
Most herbs stay where you plant them without becoming overly invasive and spreading but be watchful for MINT. Whether SWEET MINT or PEPPERMINT – this herb has pretty leaves, is super easy to grow, great for its spearmint flavor and minty smell and good for beverages or iced tea, but be warned it will spread in the yard or garden. However, it can be happily grown in pots or containers by itself. I remember planting starts of mint that Mama gave me on the side of my house, and it spread like crazy, soon even coming up in the crack between the patio and sliding doors. I thought we’d never get rid of that mint. Lesson learned but the leaves were lovely in iced tea.
While researching for my book, I’ve especially enjoyed reading about the easy teas you can make with herbs and flowers. I’ve also enjoyed learning how many herbs and flowers are edible. Edible flowers and herbs are always best when picked fresh out of your garden, and untreated with pesticides or chemicals. They are best when picked fresh in the morning and they will often keep in a plastic container in the refrigerator for days so you can get out a few to toss in a salad or special dish. Be sure you know the flowers that are safe to eat, however, as many are poisonous like foxgloves, oleander, and poppies. One edible flower you’re probably familiar with from childhood is Honeysuckle. You can enjoy the nectar or use the petals for a tea. Cornflowers have a spicy clove-like taste and hibiscus have a citrus-flavor in herbal teas and are a good addition to fruit salads. Wild violets and pansies make lovely teas, too, and can be used in salads or even jams and jellies. Many of the edible flowers I read about I was already familiar with for foods like dill for seasoning vegetables, elderberry for making wine or teas, basil for soups or pasta, or chives with their oniony flavor for salads or other dishes. It’s really fun to pick up books or to do some research on the internet to learn herbs, flowers, wildflowers, and perennials you can use in cooking, jams, jellies, salads, or sprinkle on foods for garnishes.
Ingredients: 
Ingredients:
Ingredients:
“The Mother’s heart is the child’s schoolroom.” – Henry Ward Beecher
As kittens, geese, or other animals learn and imprint from their mothers, we learn from the mothers who raise us. Our mothers, whether they realize it or not, are our teachers. They model the way we should live and think. They teach us what is important not only by their words but by their example. For most of us, our mother’s voice, words of love, encouragement, caution, and concerns, are ever in the background of our minds. A mother’s teaching, especially if it is good, strong, and true, can have a powerful impact on a life. George Washington said, “All I am I owe my mother. I attribute all my successes in life to the moral, intelligent and physical education I received from her.” Others have also written beautiful words about their mothers. John Wesley said: “My mother was the source from which I derived the guiding principles of life.” I doubt either of their mothers, caught up in the busyness of their days, the demands of childrearing and life, realized they were making such an impact on their sons, but the inescapable fact is: Mothers teach us and they make a difference in our lives.
As little children we lean to and look up to our mothers, loving to hold our mother’s hand and to listen to her read to us, bringing her little bouquets of flowers from the yard, writing her love-notes, and sharing with her all the thoughts and happenings of our day. As we grow older and more independent, we naturally pull away, establishing our own identity, detaching, and seeing with time our mothers in a less idealistic way. Oddly, as we age, and I think especially after we lose our mothers, we look back and see them more idealistically again, realizing all they gave to us, all they gave up to raise us, all the good and worthwhile teachings they planted into our lives and nurtured. We acknowledge even more then how they shaped us, in part, to be what we are today. We are more ready to sing their praises and give them honor for it.
As I grew older, I thanked my mother on many occasions for the lessons she taught me, the love she gave freely, and for the good, virtuous, loving example of her life she ever modeled before me. It was often my mother who was there, standing beside me in the darkest times. Washington Irving wrote: “A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity.” I’m blessed to look back and remember my mother was always there for me in good times and bad, and was also my friend.
Lin Stepp 