Towards Generosity
I HATE spending money.
hate: verb, feel intense or passionate dislike for
When I was a sophomore in college, one of my friends accidentally broke my laptop. The repairs cost $500. When I gave them my credit card, I cried. I cried at the idea of having to pay for something so expensive. I cried at giving my money away.
I didn't grow up poor, but I grew up in a frugal family.
I developed an unhealthy relationship to money. I held it close to me with a closed hand. I would feel sick to my stomach each time I made a large purchase (over $50), even for necessary items like food.
About a year ago, I decided to consciously work on being better at spending my money.*
Life is about balance. I should be a good steward of the resources that I have, but being a good steward means spending and investing in the right ways.
Now, I try to be more generous. Generous with myself, allowing myself to buy that lipstick that I don't need or the mango that is more expensive than an apple, to allow myself a little bit of happiness in my day. Generous with my friends, treating them at dinner when I know they are in a tight spot or not asking them to pay for gas when I drive them to the airport or buying them gifts spontaneously.
This generosity has given me a sense of freedom. I no longer feel my heart palpitating when I spend money. I have peace.
I use the money to invest in relationships, to bring others joy, and to remind myself of the good in the world. Sometimes these investments manifest in material purchases, but I'm investing in the immaterial.
~
I'm reminded of my own commitment to generosity as I ask for financial support.
I'm often surprised and deeply grateful when friends who I know do not have extensive financial means pledge donations, like a recently married couple who both just graduated and a family where both parents work multiple jobs. I'm frustrated when those who I know have extensive funds make up irrelevant excuses about how they have nothing to spare.**
Thinking about this has made me reflect on two specific passages in Luke.
Money is a difficult and sensitive topic. There are still many situations where talking about money gives me intense anxiety. But I believe that we are called to live our life generously.
In what ways do you give out of abundance rather than sacrificially (whether this be financially or with your time or your energy, etc)? Where is God calling you to stretch your generosity?
~
*I recognize that this post comes from a vantage point of someone who has financial security and not stuck in a cycle of poverty due to systemic economic oppression.
**I recognize that there were families who truly could not support me financially despite their desire to. I respect all decisions that were made.
hate: verb, feel intense or passionate dislike for
When I was a sophomore in college, one of my friends accidentally broke my laptop. The repairs cost $500. When I gave them my credit card, I cried. I cried at the idea of having to pay for something so expensive. I cried at giving my money away.
I didn't grow up poor, but I grew up in a frugal family.
I developed an unhealthy relationship to money. I held it close to me with a closed hand. I would feel sick to my stomach each time I made a large purchase (over $50), even for necessary items like food.
About a year ago, I decided to consciously work on being better at spending my money.*
Life is about balance. I should be a good steward of the resources that I have, but being a good steward means spending and investing in the right ways.
Now, I try to be more generous. Generous with myself, allowing myself to buy that lipstick that I don't need or the mango that is more expensive than an apple, to allow myself a little bit of happiness in my day. Generous with my friends, treating them at dinner when I know they are in a tight spot or not asking them to pay for gas when I drive them to the airport or buying them gifts spontaneously.
This generosity has given me a sense of freedom. I no longer feel my heart palpitating when I spend money. I have peace.
I use the money to invest in relationships, to bring others joy, and to remind myself of the good in the world. Sometimes these investments manifest in material purchases, but I'm investing in the immaterial.
~
I'm reminded of my own commitment to generosity as I ask for financial support.
I'm often surprised and deeply grateful when friends who I know do not have extensive financial means pledge donations, like a recently married couple who both just graduated and a family where both parents work multiple jobs. I'm frustrated when those who I know have extensive funds make up irrelevant excuses about how they have nothing to spare.**
Thinking about this has made me reflect on two specific passages in Luke.
And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. So He said, “Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had.”
Luke 21:1-4
For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.
Luke 18:25
Money is a difficult and sensitive topic. There are still many situations where talking about money gives me intense anxiety. But I believe that we are called to live our life generously.
In what ways do you give out of abundance rather than sacrificially (whether this be financially or with your time or your energy, etc)? Where is God calling you to stretch your generosity?
~
*I recognize that this post comes from a vantage point of someone who has financial security and not stuck in a cycle of poverty due to systemic economic oppression.
**I recognize that there were families who truly could not support me financially despite their desire to. I respect all decisions that were made.
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