How Can I Find True Contentment During the Holidays Without Overspending?

Hey, the holidays are coming fast and for a lot of us that means pressure. I'm talking about pressure to spend, pressure to impress. And that pressure for being honest with ourselves leads to debt.And for many of us it leads to regret. But here's the truth I want to share today. You don't have to overspend for a meaningful, joy filled holiday.And I'm going to share exactly how to do that on today's show. And no, it's not Christmas in July, it's Christmas in August.

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Hey there. Welcome back to the show. I'm Ralph and I just want to thank you so much for joining me today.It is so great that you come by, just give me a little bit of your time every day. And this is the show where my goal is to every day give you the tools to equip you to how to become a financially confident Christian.Now if you missed yesterday's show, we talked about reviewing your giving strategy for year end impact and ensuring your generosity aligns with your values. Well, today we're going to do something completely different.You probably thought Ralph has lost his mind, but today I want to talk about how to find holiday joy without overspending for the holiday. Because here's the thing, the holidays are a few months away. But I thought this was a great time to start talking about this.Because here's the truth. You don't have to overspend to have a meaningful and joy filled holiday. You might be saying, Ralph, wait a second, what are you really getting at?Well, today I'm getting at something I'm going to call true contentment. And true contentment is what we all really want to be. That's what we all want to emulate to really be a confident Christian.What we really want to find is contentment.And if we're going to think about contentment in terms of the holiday season, we really need to start thinking about aligning our season with the things that matter the most to us. Those are things like your faith. Hey, for many of us, our faith is at the center of this and the Christmas holiday. Hey, that's all about faith.Which leads us to your values. Hey, as we're planning for the holidays, we really want to reinforce our values. That's what makes us who we are.That's what makes us want to get up in the morning and do the things that are important to us. And last, but not Least, hey, if we're thinking about holiday giving, we, we're really talking about those relationships.You want to do things for your family, you want to do things for your friends and for your colleagues. It's all about building those relationships.Well, you know, on the show, I always want to get into scripture, so let's get right to the book of Philippians, chapter 4, verses 11 to 12. And this is from the NIV Bible. But I read this as I was preparing for the show and I thought, this is perfect today.And again, this is Philippians 4, verses 11 to 12. And this is what it says. I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I learned the secret of being content in any and every situation.Now as I was listening to that and I was reading that today, I thought, wow, what an in depth scripture that is. This is somebody who knows what it needs to be in need, and he also knows what it is to have plenty. And what's the big secret here, the big takeaway?I've learned the secret of being content in any and every situation. Well, let's talk about how do we get to that secret? Hey, that's the special sauce. That's the big reveal for today.I want to just give you one simple action that you can take today to start planning for that holiday season. Because guess what? Yes, it's in August.If you're listening to this live, we're only a few months away from really starting to dig in and do some holiday shopping. And here's a little pro tip. Start planning that now. Start shopping. Now. You can spread that cost over a couple months instead of at the last minute.So here's your one simple action step for today. I just want to encourage you today, just define your top one or two holiday values. Ask yourself this big takeaway question. Here's the question.What really matters most to me this season? And I just want you to pause there for a minute, just kind of dwell on that. Ask yourself that really important question.What really matters most to me this holiday season?Because it's so easy to get stuck in the movement of going forward with that and, you know, worrying about the gifts for this one and worrying about gifts for that one and decorating the house and planning all these elaborate things. But when you do that, I truly feel like you lose sight of what matters the most to your season. So you got to start by defining what that is.Once you do that, that's when you start Thinking about what I'll call your value based holiday budget. Just pick a few low cost activities that reflect those values that are important to you. Maybe for you it's family night is important.So maybe you want to invest in some games or some planned events that you can do that. Hey, maybe for you, worship time is important. So you want to think about that holiday calendar.I want to make sure you've set aside time for that worship time where, hey, here's a great one. And this is the thing that my family's embraced for many years.And we got to a point as a family where we realized, hey, nobody's going to give us something that we don't already have. I bet many people listening right now, you're probably listening right now. You're saying, ralph, I can embrace that.So for many people, maybe you're one of those people listening right now, it's all about serving others. So think about that as you plan this holiday season.You probably thought I was going to talk about gift giving guides and you probably thought I was going to talk about how to budget money for the holidays. No, I'm really talking about how to budget your time, how to budget those things that are important to you, the things that you value the most.Because here's the secret, here's the big takeaway for today, the big reveal. Let those things be the anchor when you're tempted to overspend.Hey, like most of us, it's real easy to get into that situation where we're going to go overspend for the holidays. But then we got to get back to our values and think about what is important to us, what is our anchor.And when you feel yourself being pushed in that direction that you're going to overspend, go back to that anchor. Look at those one or two values that are important to you. Hey, maybe for you, one of your big values is I don't want to go into debt this Christmas.I remember last year, Ralph, when I went into debt, it took me January, February, yeah, March and April and I was still paying off those credit cards. And that was such a burden. It took away the value of the holidays. It took about all the joy that I would have had giving gifts.And Ralph, when I realized at the end that was one of the big values for me because one of the things I really want to encourage during we are planning for the holiday season is, is to help break that cycle of that guilt driven spending. The truth is, as I talk to people more and more every day, it's all about guilt and what does that guilt do? That guilt leads away from peace.And hey, if you want to have a peaceful and joyful Christmas season holiday season, you got to start thinking about taking that pressure off. And the other thing I want to encourage you to do is shift away from consumption. We get so focused on the gifts and we get so focused on the stuff.Let's really start to model that Christ centered celebration. Let's think about being faithful stewards of what God has given us because that's really the reason for the holiday.That's really where the joy is found. That's a big secret there. It's not a big secret actually. That is truly where the joy is found.Joy isn't found in those credit card statements that happened in January.Joy isn't found in that stress of wait until the last minute and not having your plans in order, blowing your budget and then scrambling to figure out how you're going to pay your bills. So again, this episode might have been a little bit more than you expected, but that is really my focus today.I want you to really think about and plan for the holidays to make it what you value the most. Well, how about we pray together?Heavenly Father, in a world that screams for more, we just ask that you would help us to quiet our hearts, Lord and hear your voice. And Lord, we just encourage you to teach us to be content and Lord, not in stuff. It's so easy to get hung up in the stuff.But Lord help us to be content in your sufficiency.And even though we're in August, Lord, we just ask that you would help this holiday season to reflect our values and our love for you, Lord, because that's the most important thing. And most of all Lord, we we ask that you would help us to reflect gratitude for all the things you've given us.Lord we are so fortunate when we look around at what we do have.And Lord we would ask that you would guard us from guilt driven spending and guide us into peace filled giving Lord, help us to be those cheerful givers that you talk about in your word.And Lord we just ask that you would let our homes be filled with joy and not debt was not to put ourselves in that situation again this year Lord and help us our hearts to be filled with Christ, not comparison. And we ask this in confidence, boldly. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Remember this if you don't hear anything else I've said today.The holidays aren't about what's under the tree. It's so easy to get stuck in that thought process that, that, that go to thing of, okay, what's under the tree? What are the kids gonna have?But that's not what the holidays are all about. They're about you becoming in Christ through them. That's really the key. That is the key. That is the main takeaway.It's about you becoming in Christ through the gifts that you give. So now, right now, I want to ask you to do something. I want you to share the show. This show is making an impact on you.If this show is changing the way you think, hey, if this show's making you a more confident, financially confident Christian, I just want to encourage you to share it with your neighbors, share it with your friends, share it with your family.Let's really reach out and touch people with a message of hope, with a message of, hey, you don't have to get stuck, you don't have to stay stuck in that quagmire of financial distress. Just send them to our website, that's financiallyconfidentchristian.com because listen, if you're getting a lot from it, they can too.So I just want to encourage again, share the show. Now, tomorrow, I want to make sure you come back and join me. We're going to start talking about yes again.It's not the end of the year yet, but I want to start setting the table for a year end financial checklist so that you can start thinking about how to wrap up the end of the year strong and to set yourself up for continued peace and progress. So let's all go out there today and be those financially confident Christians we want to be. I have confidence in you, have confidence in yourself.Stay financially savvy. God bless you and you have a great day today.