Tag Archives: living on one dollar

One dollar – Day Eight

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One dollar – Day eight:  (The last day?)
If you have made it this far, you might be thinking, “I see my one dollar – and even see people – differently, but what can I do to help? The need is so great, and I am only one person!”

 

There is no one answer to this question. We all have heard about food rotting on docks, supplies stolen by corrupt governments, and money squandered. If big organizations cannot end the poverty problem can one individual really change the world for one other person?

 

You CAN greatly impact another person’s life…for one dollar a day. What is impossible for us is more than possible for God in us.

 

You see, I’ve watched a $200 loan from Go Light Our World help desperate moms to generate income for their families. I’ve seen a $50 GLOW gift pay for the school tuition and supplies for a twelve-year-old girl who was otherwise destined to the streets. I’ve seen $25 buy medicine so a mom could keep working. I’ve seen $12 buy a child’s first pair of new leather shoes that fit. I’ve seen $50 buy hot nutritious meals for FORTY children.

 

Don’t worry, this isn’t a pitch for you to donate money to Go Light Our World. I’m not going to ask you for a dime. Maybe it is enough for now for you to keep that one dollar posted where you can think about it each day for another week, or more. I’m keeping mine in place. Talk with God about your one dollar. Likely, you will come up with more questions and ideas to discuss with Him. Write them down. Pray about them!

 

Maybe God will nudge you to join the GLOW team as a monthly supporter of one dollar a day. Or maybe He will move your heart to sponsor a child through Compassion International, or to buy a water filtration system through Samaritan’s Purse. Maybe He will convince you that it’s worth the effort to become a Big Brother or Big Sister. Who knows how God will move your heart when you ask Him to see other people through His eyes?!

 

Share your experience with others. Ask them to join you on a one dollar journey. Discuss it with your children and grandchildren. See how many ways you can discover to generate one dollar a day that could change someone’s life.

 

People living on one dollar a day are not just fighting for a better life. They are fighting for their life. Imagine what happens when we “live more simply so others may simply live” and how that could change the world for one other person.

 

You CAN impact another life with one dollar. But really, it’s not just about one dollar. It’s about your legacy. It’s about how important it is to you to actually change the world – one person at a time. Ask God for wisdom, courage, and strength of heart to see others as He sees them and to respond in His name.

 

Today is the last day of this adventure …

– or is it just the beginning?

 

 

One dollar – Day Seven

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One dollar – Day seven:
On one dollar a day, there is no emergency fund if the storm washes out your crop or carries off your house or even your small piece of land gets washed down the river. It is incredibly hard to save up to buy a cooking stove, never mind a hospital visit or medicine.

 

In a flash of thought your one dollar makes you ask, “What if I could get a loan to get by or to start a small business?” A $200 loan would start a weaving business. The profits could be used to buy thread and pay for studies. $120 to open a store to make money to fix the house so the water doesn’t come in, maybe to put in a real floor. $200 for an onion farm that could double your income to two dollars a day, if you can wait two months  till harvest…and if it survives.

 

You find the one man you know who has a regular income from cleaning jobs. He is willing to give you a temporary loan. But most of what he makes goes to care for his own family. A small loan will require you to make payments of $7 every two weeks. You think to yourself, $7 is a week’s wages, sometimes more!

 

You go to the bank. To get a loan requires proof of income, utility bills for three months, and proof of steady income. But documentation isn’t provided for one dollar a day workers, you can’t afford utilities, and there is no guaranteed work. You find another bank is more willing to work with you. But you have to commit to a long-term savings account and you need every penny to survive. You discover a local church ministry provides small micro loans, but even at no interest you have to be reliable to repay the loan over time. You look at your one dollar and think, maybe this is my opportunity for my family to escape poverty.

 

Looking at your one dollar in the evening, you see your children studying by candlelight. They are so eager to learn! You’re trying to choose between keeping them in school or feeding them. It is your lot in life that holds them back; it is NOT who they are!

 

What opportunity do YOU see when you look at YOUR one dollar?

 

 

One dollar – Day Six

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One dollar – Day six:
As I brush my teeth, I notice the water run down my sink. I notice my one dollar stuck to the mirror and quickly shut off the water until I’m ready to rinse. You cannot afford to buy bottled water on one dollar a day. You will have to get it from a stream or lake or puddle or from the town’s tainted water supply. You know it will make you sick, but you need water to survive.

 

You look at your one dollar and realize that the doctor’s fee and medicine for just one stomach illness costs more than $30…a whole month of one dollars. On top of that there are the lost wages.

 

On one dollar a day you constantly think to yourself all day long, I have to stay healthy. I cannot get sick. I am tired of thinking about one dollar all the time! Wherever you go, whatever you do, the thought of one dollar crowds your mind. Maybe you wonder if there will be enough room left to think about God. You question if He thinks about you or if He cares about your one dollar. You know He does, but when you are honest, it feels like your one dollar doesn’t mean much to Him. Before you lay your head down on your mat tonight, what will you say to Him? Is He still the one you worship on one dollar a day?

 

I’ve never had to and probably won’t have to be concerned about getting down to my last one dollar. Probably you won’t either. Looking at my one dollar, I’m realizing this is not just about the money. For me, looking at my one dollar is like looking dimly through a window that sees beyond my little world. It reveals a view of some of God’s people I don’t think about every day. As you look at your one dollar, maybe you’ll ask God to show you what He sees when He looks at people, around the world AND in your path every day.

 

 

One dollar – Day Five

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One dollar – Day five:
As you look at your one dollar, what food will you buy for you and your family? You have to be careful, because it needs to be both safe and nutritious. Your toilet paper and other essentials also come from that same one dollar. What if one dollar per person per day buys you only flour and grain, maybe rice and beans to cook over an open fire? One dollar might provide enough food to generate maybe 800 calories per person. You soon realize that at 800 calories a day you will lose 20-30 pounds in a month. You grin, thinking that maybe you could stand to lose some weight. But then you wonder, “What happens after that?”

 

Look at your one dollar and ask, “How will I keep going if I can only afford 800 calories of food?” I must have enough strength to work or my family will not survive!” You realize that you used to think of poor people as being lazy, but on 800 calories a day you find fatigue and lethargy to be constant companions. You learn that if you mash your beans and refry them in lard, you will increase your calories consumed per day. But on some days when there is not even a dollar, your children eat only salt and tortillas. In Bolivia, many children and parents chew on coca leaves to reduce the hunger pains. Usually they have smiles and like to play games. Days like these, they are too tired even to play.

 

I wonder if your one dollar looks different from how it looked just a few days ago. Mine does. I’m thinking more about the one dollars I spend that really change my life at all.  But I’m getting a better idea about how much one dollar COULD change the world for someone else.

 

 

One dollar – Day Four

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One dollar – Day four:
Where are you as you look at your one dollar today? I am sitting in my recliner in my comfortable house. As I look at my one dollar, I’m trying to imagine having a ten-year old daughter and looking into her eyes as I send her into the fields to work with me all day so she can help me support our family. To my dismay and shame, she has to earn her own one dollar a day. Gazing beyond this one dollar I know that she wants to be a teacher so she can help people. But I can’t afford the $25 for her school supplies. Like 40% of the other children in the village, she has to leave school before 6th grade, so she can help support our family. I know she sees other girls with shoes that actually fit and dresses that aren’t ragged. I see the tears in her eyes, knowing that her future seems already cast.

 

In modern countries, young children are warned from lifting weights. The little boy down the path works in the factory, carrying bricks all day. I look at my one dollar and wonder what he is thinking. Does he have dreams for a different life? I wonder if he had my one dollar how his life might change? Could one dollar really change his world?

 

Tell me, what do your eyes see when they look at your one dollar bill today? God, help us to see people through your eyes of love and compassion.

 

 

One dollar – Day Three

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One dollar – Day three:
As you look at your one dollar, consider what would it really be like to live on one dollar or less a day?

 

For one thing, it’s not one dollar every day. You have no steady or guaranteed income. Some days you have NO dollars coming in. Some days you have two dollars or more. Maybe sometimes you only have $4… for the whole week. It is like playing the income lottery every day. What you make is determined by how hard you work and whether you can produce something that someone else wants to buy that day, and if the weather cooperates. You work every day of the week, every day of the month. There are no weekends or vacations, no paid holidays, no sick leave. As you look at your dollar, ask, “What will I do if I am too tired or too sick to work or if I get hurt?”

 

Think about this as you look at your dollar today. Ask yourself, “Would I be able to manage my money, actually budget it, or would my focus be on just surviving? Where will I get ANOTHER dollar a day to protect and feed my spouse and yet ANOTHER for my child?

 

As you live on so very much more than one dollar today, maybe you will find yourself giving thanks for every dollar you are able to spend to feed and clothe yourself, to provide comfortable shelter, and to share with others. Maybe you will discover the joy of writing “With thanks!” in the memo line of each check you write, on the back of every check you sign, or under your signature of each message you write! I wonder, if you gave thanks for every good thing in your life today, including your one dollar, how long would that list be compared to your list of complaints? I hope you find yourself in awe of how amazing it is that we are able to have an audience with the creator of the universe whenever we want! It doesn’t even cost one dollar. It’s free.

 

 

One dollar – Day Two

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One dollar – Day two:
Look at your one dollar. Did you know that more than a BILLION people in the world today live on one dollar a day… or less?
That’s every person in the USA…times THREE!

 

You may be thinking, yeah, but the cost of living is so much less where they live. Right you are. But do you know why the cost of living is so much less? It is because they cannot afford the luxuries of things like clean water, new shoes, school supplies, safe food, cooking tools, medicine, or other basic living needs. Certainly one dollar cannot buy insurance for your health, life, house, or possessions. It doesn’t go in the vending machine!

 

I’m not telling you this to put you on a guilt trip. I’m not even asking you to give up a dime. But will you continue with me on this journey into another world not very far away? It only requires some of your time and the willingness to see things through different eyes. Maybe you will ask God to see the people around you through His eyes today: the person in the line with you, your coworker, person who just sent you a message. Maybe you will look through your address book or church directory and note the names of people you haven’t seen for a while. What does life look like for the person who makes half what you make? Or less? It’s not just about money. Ask, how would God want me to see the people I label ‘liberals’ or ‘conservatives?’ Ask yourself, “What would have to change in my life if I actually could see people through God’s eyes? Would it change how I live today…for the better?!”

 

Think about this as you look at your dollar before you go to bed tonight. You do have a bed and a pillow, and comforter, right? Living on one dollar a day, you are probably sleeping on a mat on a dirt floor with the fleas and lice that constantly bite at your skin. I’m not telling you this to gross you out or manipulate your emotions in any way. I’m on this journey with you. It’s not an easy one, even in the comfort of my home, but I need to press on. I hope you will continue with me.