Generous habits: will we miss what we give away?

I so enjoy hearing the testimonies of faithful donors. These are, without exception, grateful people who trust God. They tell me:

“whatever I have given away, I have never, ever missed it.”

Donors have told me stories of how they learned to give as children. Often these are farm stories. They raised rabbits or pigs, and gave 10% of what they earned to the church. If prices were high, they gave more and if they earned less money, they gave less. By the time these folks shared their stories with me, they had decades of practice in being generous! I have heard stories from people who give away tens of thousands of dollars a year, and people who give an extra $20 when they have it.

Lately I’ve been retelling the story that happened sometime after WWII. A young couple has a baby on the way and the husband has been laid off from his job. Their church is building a new building and asking for pledges. The couple prays and they pledge. The man telling this story, decades later, says “the next day the Ford Motor company called me…”

Generosity is not some sort of magic wand that we can wave to sprinkle fairy dust over our difficulties. Generosity does not protect us from pain and loss. It does build faithful and resilent people though, grateful and generous people. That I can attest to.

Regardless of circumstances, people with a habit of generosity have learned that giving will not impoverish them. Anything can be taken to extreme, but donors tell me that God has always taken care of them. They tell me that practicing generosity strengthened their faith. Being generous with a little helps you to be generous with a lot.

When you learn to give when you don’t have much, it’s easier to give more later

My previous blog post talked about generational giving and asked if young families can give. I received a couple of responses, both along the lines of when you learn to give when you don’t have much, it’s easier to give more later. The very generous elderly man at your church might once have been the laid-off young husband.

How can we set ourselves up for a lifetime of generosity? That’s too big a question! Instead, I think we get to answer the same small question repeatedly: how can we be generous today, in this moment, with what God has given us? What small act of generosity can we make now?

As I’ve often said, “Lord, help me be generous” is as useful a prayer as I’ve found here!