Solomon
ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines
and to the border of Egypt… Solomon's provision for one day was thirty cors of
fine flour and sixty cors of meal, [a cor was about 90 gallons] ten fat oxen,
and twenty pasture-fed cattle, a hundred sheep, besides deer, gazelles,
roebucks, and fattened fowl…
Solomon
also had 40,000 stalls of horses for his chariots, and 12,000 horsemen. And
those officers supplied provisions for King Solomon, and for all who came to
King Solomon's table, each one in his month. They let nothing be lacking. Barley
also and straw for the horses and swift steeds they brought to the place where
it was required, each according to his duty.
1 Kings 4:21-28
A budget is not just a record of where money goes but
also a record of where it comes from. If you have more than one source of
income, then factor in the smaller amounts into the same time period as your
main income. For example, if you main job pays monthly but you have a part-time
job, perhaps in the evenings or at weekends, then multiply up the weekly salaries
into each month. If you are working your way through college or university, or
if your receive money at regular intervals from your family, factor that into
your Term budgets. But be a cautious. Do not be too complacent that this
secondary income will continue and so remember not to plan to spend it before
you get it.
You should use the same spending categories that I
described two weekends ago, in ‘Preparing to budget’: survival costs; lifestyle
choices; impulse spending; savings and giving.
Start by listing your survival costs. You cannot put
the most important at the top of the list because that is impossible to decide.
Whether money for food is more important than money for heating can change from
day to day; whether it is more important to pay the rent or buy new shoes can
change from week to week. So start with the costs that you have the least
control over, the ones that you cannot reduce or delay.
These are often rent or mortgage and housing taxes (in
the UK, called ‘Council Tax’). They are usually fixed amounts that you cannot
vary from week to week or month to month, unless you move home or have a
significant change of circumstances that qualifies you for a reduction.
Next, essential transport, because if you have to pay
to travel to and from work, and if your children have to pay to travel to
school or college, then the amounts are fixed, unless you decide to walk some
or all of the way or can invest in cheaper transport, like a bicycle.
A key phrase in the passage at the start of this
Reflection is, ‘They let nothing be lacking’. This is because Solomon would not
take anything for granted.
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Copyright © All Souls Clubhouse Community Centre & Church and Philip Evans
2013.
Scripture
quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright
© 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by
permission. All rights reserved.
Handling
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