Your Best is Not For Saving

Your Best Is Not For Saving

My mother-in-law received a set of sterling silver flatware as a wedding gift. She kept the silver in a wooden box on a top shelf. As far as I know, she only used the silver on the rare occasions when she hosted her women’s club. Then she would spend hours polishing the tarnished silver. On holidays and family birthdays, she used the everyday stainless. She said she was saving the sterling for “best.” And so she saved her almost- never-used sterling for more than forty years, until the day a robber broke into the house and stole it. The thief was never caught and her silver was never recovered. What she had been saving for “best” was gone forever.

In contrast, the mother of my college roommate also had a set of sterling silver flatware she received as a wedding gift. She had also kept her silverware saved in a wooden box until the day she asked herself why she was saving it. Then she moved the wooden box down from the cupboard and put it on the counter next to the kitchen table. From that time on, Carolyn’s family used the sterling silver flatware at all of their meals. Besides enjoying her beautiful sterling silver every day, Carolyn’s mother gained another benefit from her decision. She no longer had to polish tarnished silver.

Abundance Is Now

These two related stories demonstrate the intersection between abundance and time. Abundance is not just about money and material goods. A mindset of abundance always includes an awareness of abundance in the present moment. Abundance is the belief that right now you have more than enough.

The greatest difference between an abundance mindset and a scarcity mindset is not what you have. It is about enjoying what you have in the present moment. Every time my mother-in-law set the table with her stainless steel flatware instead of the sterling silver, she was saying to herself and everyone else, “This moment is not worth the best I have.”

She was saving her best for some indefinite time in the future, which is another way of saying that she didn’t live in the “now” of her life. In contrast, Carolyn’s mother used her best every day. She lived in the abundance of her present life.

Is Your Best On Hold?

Were you taught to put your life on hold? Are you waiting until later to enjoy what you have earned? Are you saving your best crystal and china for someday? Do you have a box of sterling silver hidden away in your cupboards?

The truth is, tomorrow never comes. All any of us has is this moment. The simple secret to living an abundant life is to live fully right now, enjoying what you already have as you continue to prepare for your future.

Using Your Best In The New Year

At this time of transition between the end of one year and the beginning of another, I invite you to ask yourself this question, “What am I saving for best?

Rather than make typical resolutions about what you are going to do differently, think about what you already have that you do not enjoy right now because you are saving it for some undetermined time in the future. Instead of making New Year’s resolutions about the weight you are going to lose and the money you are going to save and the number of times you will go to the gym each year, resolve that you will use the best that you already have. If you don’t use it now, when will you?

As an exercise in abundance thinking, go through your home and find three items you are saving for “best.” And if you have a box of sterling silver hidden away somewhere, you might resolve to use the silver at least once a week. Whatever it is that you have that you do not use because you think that it is too good for right now, resolve to use it.

Using The Best In You

And after you find three material things, then you might ask another question. What is best in you that you are not using? What are you saving for some time in the future?

Is it the book you have been thinking about writing? The music that remains unsung within you? The business that remains merely an idea in your mind? Whatever the best is that you are saving for later, resolve that you will use your best right now, and in the new year.