On Giving and Overspending

Today has now become fashionably known as "Giving Tuesday".  Where, after we've all blown all our Christmas cash on Black Friday and the newer Cyber Monday, we stop and think, "Hey, maybe I should donate to some poor people too".

Ugh.

I have so many thoughts about this I don't even know where to start, and I'm preaching to myself here too.  I bought a lot of "stuff" this last week.  Things that were on sale and I'll use for the rest of the year, but still, that's a lot of expendable cash going to things that will in the end, just be consumed.

We Americans are such a consumer society and if we're not careful it consumes us too.  All the time spent shopping, and then organizing, cleaning, and finally purging.

Now I have kids, and they grow and so need new things, but still, we have too much.  I'm trying to be a bit more mindful of what we have as I stretch that buying to another child, but it's so easy to pick up things here and there and before you know it, mountains of things overwhelm your home.

What if we flip this on it's head? 

I wish Giving Tuesday could come before Black Friday.  You know, give some away, before we spend every last cent on ourselves?  It's kind of a Biblical principle after all!

I started thinking about the various organizations we've given to this year, or in the past.  My inbox got flooded in the last few days with most of them so that made it easy to summarize.

There truly are so many worthy causes out there, but may I suggest starting with ones that are close to your heart?

For us, that means people.  But it also means programs that benefit people long term, things like reforestation by The Eden Projects, who also provide jobs for people who have been devastated by that deforestation.

It means donating to organizations like International Justice Mission or Freedom Firm, who are actively working to rescue men, women, and children from all kinds of slavery.  Or my personal friends, the Besks, who work with Go Zoe in Thailand.

It also simply means donating to organizations that are working to bring people out of poverty and hard places.

The Preemptive Love Coalition working with displaced people in Iraq and Syria.

Compassion International working with kids in poverty all over the world.

Kiva, making micro loans to help those in poverty help themselves (and they pay you back directly, or you can choose to re-invest that money over and over again).

Sister Connection, sponsoring widows in Burundi as well as helping them become self sufficient through micro financing.

And finally, one of my personal favorites, Village Schools International, working in Tanzania, Malawi, and Zambia WITH villages to build their own schools and provide education that is otherwise unavailable to almost all of these kids.

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Many of these organizations have matching grants going on today that will allow you to double your impact.

Whatever you choose, will you think about how you could give out of your bounty to make the world a better place?  What are your favorite organizations to support?

I receive nothing for telling you about these organizations, I just think they do really good work!

A Fifth Child

Wondering about the title? No, we're not pregnant again, read on for the explanation!

Sometimes I get so overwhelmed with things going on in the world I just want to stick my head in the sand like an ostrich.

I hear about the suffering in so many different places, Aleppo, North Africa, people who have lived their entire lives in refugee camps.  Even people in the US, homeless, and children in foster care.  

Sometimes I read Jesus' words to the rich young ruler, "Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, and follow me." Mark 10:21 and I know that we are rich and will be held accountable for what we have done with our riches.

But I don't know where to start.  What can one person do *unless you are Warren Buffet* to alleviate much suffering?

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Sometime in the last year I came across the writings of Craig Greenfield.  I believe I was introduced to him through A Life Overseas (also a wonderful place to read) or perhaps another missions blog or group that I subscribe to.

Craig writes from a place of coming alongside those in poverty and what helping them practically looks like, both in missions overseas and at home.

A few weeks ago he shared a blog called How to Balance the Needs of your Family with those of the Poor and to put it bluntly, I can't get it out of my head.

When you have time PLEASE jump over and read the whole thing, it's not long and I'll wait!

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Read it? *(there's a summary at the bottom here)  Great, now tell me, could we stretch the resources of our families to include just one more?  I'm buying all the snow clothes for my kids (see boots in the photo!), can I find an extra set to give to a child in need?  At Christmas an extra $50 gift out of the Compassion or World Vision catalogs doesn't seem like much, but that's usually what we spend on each of our children.  Can we spread it just a little farther?

The day I came across this post of Craig's I had received a call that my latest Compassion child dropped out of the program and would I like to sign up for a new one.  It occurred to me that it's been exactly 20 years since I started sponsoring children through Compassion.  $38 a month doesn't seem like it could help a lot, but what if that's my fifth child? 

In those 20 years I have had 4 different children.  A couple have dropped out, one has graduated the program, and I honestly can't remember what's happened to the other.  But I know, even if they dropped out, their lives were changed.  How can you change things for just one child?

There are so many ways to do this that it's blowing my mind!

• Have a child in diapers? There's a local diaper drive next week, pick up an extra package when you stock up
• Look for an Angel Tree at Christmas and buy the presents or needed items when you're buying for your own children
• New school supplies? Buy an extra set and donate them in the school office for a child who can't afford them
• Call your local women's shelter and ask if there are any children there who need new shoes when your kids do
• Know a friend with a foster child? ask if they need anything, even a meal

And I'm sure you could come up with many more examples of ways that you purchase things for your children, mine are still small so there may be things older kids need I wouldn't even think of.

I am so excited about this though!  I've always felt powerless to change the world, but I don't think that's our calling, unless we are specifically blessed in ways that allow for that.  But can you imagine if each and everyone one of us would spread our resources just a little farther?  How much of an impact could we collectively have???

Please leave any other ideas you have in comments, I'd love to hear them and maybe incorporate them too!

*the story is that a friend of Ghandi's asked villagers in India to include one more member in their family, one of the poor, when dividing their inheritance, as a way of helping bring up the lowest members of their society.  And it worked like crazy!