I’ll See Your Five and Raise You Ten

My husband and I are frugal people. But we allow me one indulgence—my fancy face creams. Call it an aging thing, but my fight against the frump is much better armed with Rodan+Fields than Pond’s.

So imagine how giddy I was last weekend when I discovered a complete set of my products up for grabs at my daughter’s school fundraising auction. The starting bid was a mere quarter of its retail value. So I spent the night in a silent online bidding war with philanthropist no. 21138. Whoever she was.

I placed the opening bid; she upped me by five dollars. I raised her five more; she programmed a proxy bid twenty bucks higher. I called her bluff; she answered with another five dollar increase. After two hours of good-natured leapfrog, my mystery opponent fell silent. I waited for her to bust me in the final minutes of bidding, but she must have given up. My counter bid was too high. I won the prize.

At still just 75 percent of the product’s actual cost.

Why? What made no. 21138 quit? I was prepared to go the full race. After all, proceeds supported our school—a worthy cause—and this facial regimen was an item I was bound to buy anyway. So it occurred to me that maybe my fellow bidder hadn’t actually used these products before. Maybe she didn’t know from experience what they were worth. If she had, she might’ve stuck it out ‘til the end.

When you know the value of a thing, you will persevere until you obtain it.

“I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14).

What are you giving up on these days? The Christian life is filled with opposition. Somebody or something is always trying to outbid us and bump us from the race. Marriages get hurt and hostile. Children stray. Jobs turn stale, dreams stretch beyond reach, and youth grows achy and wrinkled. Even the very culture we’re immersed in would tell us God is obsolete. But does that mean we’re supposed to quit? Not according to the Bible. God wants us to keep praying, keep loving, keep giving and serving and persisting even when the cost goes up.

I left that school auction Saturday night with a smile on my face and a load of loot in my arms. And you know what? The stuff was fun, but it wasn’t my only reward. My husband and I had a blast throughout the entire event. Being there was a kind of reward in itself.

Maybe if we all looked at our daily lives that way, as a celebration and not just another obstacle en route to the end result, then the opposition wouldn’t bother us so much. If you have Jesus, then you have what it takes to outbid any adversary. So keep pressing on. The process and the prize are well worth the cost.

Blessings,
Becky