When It's All Said and Done

The Kingdom of heaven does not base it's economy on American dollars, which is good, since American dollars aren't even worth much here in America, but rather heaven's currency is time and G-d is very service and goods oriented . . . From Genesis through the Revelation, we can read about G-d making things and everything HE makes is good, but HE's also a service provider and being in HIS image, we have the potential to provide goods and service. Unlike the American economy that separates goods and services, G-d apportions talents in HIS people to be able to provide and appreciate both. I will say after our recent endeavor, I also have a true appreciation for the fact that G-d factored in teaching the next generation. I'm no spring chicken, so clearly Daddy's not either.
I've been working through the math as to actually how to compare the time it took to process 2 deer, the end results, product and service vs. the hours worked to make enough money to purchase that much red meat and make Daddy proud. I can tell you, I couldn't begin to compete financially with most folks, but then again, not that many people can do what I do when it comes to wild game and simple living. It's interesting how earning money to provide for family is well and good, but how limiting that can truly be, whereas, in the deer processing, I immediately saw that I was doing something I couldn't do any other way. When Daddy called to tell me he'd gotten two deer the first two hours of hunting season, I could hear the tribal pride in his voice and the fact that "we" needed to make plans to do up the deer. Now, he would never have called me to pitch in on paying to have the deer processed, but in this situation, I can actually provide a service to him, save him some money, put meat in our freezer, jointly provide sustenance for the next two generations, and honor the fifth commandment, all in one event!
I couldn't do that with money, and Daddy would never ask me for money, anyway. So, as it is with what has become our tradition, I took a closer look this last time and beyond all the things I listed in the previous paragraph. Considering the price of beef, we managed to end up with about 130 pounds of boneless red meat for three households to enjoy. I have steaks, lean ground meat, fajita, stir fry, and delicious tenderloin, also known as Filet Mignon. I'm not sure what deer tags cost in Kansas, but I believe they are less than $20.00, wait, I'll just Google and be back. I can't tell you for sure, but something about age and land ownership, blah, blah, blah. So it may be that tax paying land owners can hunt their own place. Anyway, I didn't see anything over $20.00, so we'll figure it at that. Say there is $40.00 combined cost for the tax and conservation folks. Still, that's less than about thirty cents a pound. We do have to figure in the hours, though. We take breaks, but from skinning to final packaging, we average about 2-3 hours per deer, that's cleaning, cutting, grinding, packaging, and labeled. Let's figure high and say $40.00 plus 6 hours for 130 pounds of meat. I'm sure Daddy has made some awesome money per hour, but I don't think I've ever earned in day what would buy that much meat. Keep in mind, I have a freezer full of steaks along with the ground meat, but we'll figure just the price of lean grind. In dollars and time, I would have had to have been making $32.50 an hour, just to buy that much lean hamburger, and let us not forget in this figuring, I'll be grilling steaks and enjoying Filet Mignon for the same price as hamburger. Now figure in the "organic" factor and the price of steaks.
It really is just a different way to figure earnings in regard to time goods and service; and it's a simple efficient way to do it. Not to mention making Daddy happy and obeying G-d . . . priceless.
There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of G-d. Ecclesiastes