Small Gains

There were five of us in the household. Dad, Mum, my older sister, my younger brother and I.

Looking back, the upbringing was fairly simple. My Dad wasn’t given to extravagances of any kind and wasn’t one to waste money at all. My Mum would be the one more likely to look at the occasional family luxury, like a TV or a dryer. If my brother and I were looking to get anything close to a decent game system of any kind, we knew we’d go through Mum and she would consider it and in the fullness of time we would get what she could afford. She felt under no compunction to keep up with the latest fad and would not waste money and my brother and I were content with that. (That’s what I like to think anyway, it was probably more a case that we grew to get used to it and didn’t make a fuss for anything else.)

When it came to monies among us as siblings, we were encouraged to look for opportunities within reason to get the funds in. Paper rounds were a massive blessing to the three of us. Eventually we got to the stage where we all shared two weekly paper rounds of the free papers and I even snagged a sweet deal at a newsagent delivering the Sunday morning papers which was where the pay was even better than the weeklies or even the dailies.

There we were, getting money on a weekly basis. I would live on the principle that there’s no time like the present and more often than not the money that came in would be gone on those essential things in life for a boy – you know, chocolates, ginger beer, the latest football magazine and probably a super hero comic book. Meanwhile, my sister, evidently following our Dad’s example would not be found spending that much at all. She’d squirrel away some of the funds.

I certainly appeared to be making the bigger gains in the sense of short term lavish living, but it was my sister that was making the small gains. Her attention to making the small gains led to some lasting positive outcomes. That attitude allowed her to thrive in virtually every season of her life. When things were stretched and tough, she could ride through that season because of the small gains. When things got better and others would think there’s time to be lavish, she would not splash out, but keep on with the small gains here and there. It paid off for her to a great degree and I hope her children will also follow that great example.

Meanwhile in my own household. seeing that example was not wasted on me. It might have taken a year  decade or two (I don’t know why my wife is suggesting three), but I did learn to value life with the small gains. That’s not just a principle about money and financial well-being. It’s learning from what that geezer Joseph in the biblical times taught Pharaoh. In the years of plenty store away for the time of lack to come and watch how you’ll make the small gains count in the end.

This attitude has certainly helped me appreciate more the small gains that are made in little things like consistency, tenderness, diligence and joy. For example, I enjoy reading blogs and listening to podcasts and the regularity of their content means a lot to me. It is not about making demands, but knowing there’s a source of content that’s there and making those small gains in terms of getting my continued attention to what they produce.

It is worth making goals in life, I think. For all that, though, I don’t get too hung up if the big picture seems so far from realisation. I don’t get too hung up on that because looking at the small gains and looking back at those has proven to be a far better exercise to get hung up on.

There’s much to be grateful for the small gains.

(Photo by Stephan Henning on Unsplash)

For His Name’s Sake

Shalom

C. L. J. Dryden