not rich enough

At this moment, I am not rich enough to enter religious life. I have been poor for too long. There have been too many years of making my one income work for two people. There were too many years of paying for private health insurance so that the other person can get much needed medical care. There were too many years of trying to give our dogs a fighting chance against cancer, almost losing the house in the process. It was the draining of retirement funds that saved the house. We were too poor to go live in an apartment -- the monthly mortgage payments are less than any but the smallest of efficiency apartments. At this moment, I am not rich enough to pay off my loan that sat collecting interest while we struggled to stay afloat. But I am working on it.