Growing up in the Deep South, I had a Daddy who loved him some Spam…Spam sandwiches, Spam & Eggs, Spam “fill in the blank”. You can imagine my disdain for Spam as an adult. That is, until about a year ago. Before the entire country was embroiled in economic crisis, our little corner of the world was having its own crisis. I had been a stay-at-home mom since my first daughter was born, and my husband had been the main breadwinner in the family. But times got hard and jobs got scarce and that’s when a can of Spam might as well have been a pot of gold.
Walking through the grocery store one day and having very little money to spend, my sweet little girl saw a can of the stuff and wanted to try it. Problem was that we hardly had money to put any food on the table at all. It’s hard to have to look into your child’s eyes and tell her that she can’t have something because it costs too much, even if that something is a yucky can of Spam!
So there we were, the family who once owned a thriving corporation, the mama with a bachelor’s degree from a distinguished university, and three sweet babes all looking for provision. It was not long until we found ourselves in a foreign place. It was a door I’d never darkened. We were forced to swallow our pride and visit the local food bank. That is where my lesson began. In that very first (yes, I said first because there would be more to come) visit to the food bank, there in our glorious bag of food was a can of….yep, you guessed it-SPAM. It’s the little things that mean a lot in times like that. So, for the first time in my almost 34 years, I taught myself how to cook the stuff that I’d spent as many years trying to get away from. Lo and behold, it wasn’t really that bad!
You know, I’ve been knocked down so many notches over the last couple of years that sometimes I’m afraid I’ll never climb back up. I have to take it day by day. It is easier for me to see now, how smart women can get sucked into a life “living off the system”. I write this today from a home with four walls and a roof. I have a computer, a job, food in my pantry and a car to drive. For this, I consider myself blessed.It is so true that many people are living one paycheck away from homelessness. The question I ask today is, “What do we do about it?”. I don’t have the answers. But I can only hope that the one who holds the world in His hand does know the answer to our needs.
So, now, whenever I see a can of Spam, it reminds me of where I’ve been. I think we’ve truly hit rock-bottom, and hopefully we’re on our way back up. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll be able to reach out to other mamas who are walking the road behind me, holding onto their own can of Spam.
Don’t bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. This isn’t a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we’re in. If your child asks for bread, do you trick him with sawdust? If he asks for fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? As bad as you are, you wouldn’t think of such a thing. You’re at least decent to your own children. So don’t you think the God who conceived you in love will be even better?
Matthew 7:9-11
The Message Bible
