today i'm joining in with madison over at wetherills say i do and rachel of oh, simple thoughts for their community brew link-up! community brew is a monthly link-up that is designed for bloggers to be "open, honest, and vulnerable, and to build community with others." december's prompt is generosity, so join in and tell us a little bit about what season of life you're in!
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it's hard to believe that christmas is a week away. i'm sitting in my room, looking at a pile of wrapped gifts and receipts stacked on my desk. i can't wait to give those gifts out next week. i love picking out something great for someone i love and i'm looking forward to handing out these carefully-picked and wrapped gifts on christmas day.
generosity is a buzz-word this time of year. in fact, it was our theme for the month as the character-education assemblies that i help to organize through our church. we spent a few days teaching kids that generosity is "making someone's day by giving something away", and i can't think of a better way to put it! everywhere you look right now, you'll see examples of people being generous. generosity in giving gifts to friends and family; supporting charities; sponsoring families in need....opportunities to be generous are all around us every day.
i love practicing generosity year round, and i'm learning to be more generous with my money so that i can be a blessing to others in that way. you see, being generous with my time has always been easy for me. but money, well, that's been harder to release control over. i'm in my mid-twenties, with two degrees under my belt, which also means a decent amount of student debt. so i've always made it a point to be as frugal as possible.
but i've learned that not only does god call us to be generous (and that being faithful in our giving to him through our tithes will return more blessings than we can imagine), but he delights in it when we show generosity!
no matter what your financial situation, there are ways to be generous with a little or with a lot. i'm a fan of making small commitments when i can. for example, the mocha club is an awesome organization to support...they back a myriad of different projects in africa and you can support them for just the price of two starbucks drinks a month. i also love supporting businesses that give back or are small. as a shop owner, i know i'm blessed by every order, and i consider each order an act of generosity!
of course, generosity isn't only about money. there are so many other ways to be generous with your time and resources. offer to babysit for that single mom at church; spend some time wrapping your grandmother's gifts for her; if you can make something, do it and send it to someone as a snail mail surprise! be creative with your generosity and i bet you that you'll find it really fun.
so, how are you showing generosity this christmas season?
YES! I feel like so many people think they cannot afford to be generous because they're not doing great financially. But it's about so much more than money!
ReplyDeleteLove the ideas you give for generosity...wrapping presents, babysitting...all free things yet they would bring so much joy to the recipient.
ReplyDeleteI love that you mentioned tithing. In my church, our tithing is 10% of our income. My husband and I are full-tithe payers. Every paycheck we get, we immediately write a 10% check for the LDS Church. We also give extra each month to help with missionary funds, temple and church building funds, and we offer to feed the missionaries many times. We have seen numerous blessings come our way because of our faith and generosity with our tithes.
ReplyDeleteI love how you put it that giving can be as simple as two starbucks coffees a month! I am right there with you that I am generous with my time and find it more difficult to be generous with my means as I am struggling with student debt and not having a job at the moment. I hope to be able to start small while I am able with every bit helping.
ReplyDeleteI am learning what it looks like to be generous with my time, as you wrote. God is revealing a lot of things through it too.
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I looked at our overall budget recently to see what extra we could give this month. We both have a set amount that we can donate as we see fit. I hope next year to give more!
ReplyDeleteWonderful reminders, Betsy. God so out-gives those who give. It always amazes me! It's wonderful knowing couples of all ages see the importance of obedience in the area of giving. If we all gave as God leads, we would have no need for government mandated welfare. Merry Christmas and God's blessings to you! :-)
ReplyDeleteI love your point about small commitments, and Mocha Club is a fantastic example of what happens when small commitments are pooled together to effect great change. Generosity with my money has always been harder for me than generosity with my time, but both are difficult. And it's good to spend some time this season pondering how to be deliberate about imparting both!
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