Does Giving Really Work?
December 19th, 2009
You be the judge. Here’s a story that’s true, it happened to me just this week.
I am serving with my family, were packing back packs with food packets for inner city school children in Kansas City KS and MO, and after we finished help pack 400 plus back packs with food to get the kids through the weekend an announcement was made that 80 dozen Christmas cookies were needed to throw a Christmas party for some of these same kids.
80 dozen cookies is a lot and immediately I thought of Costco and a couple boxes of Oreos. A few days passed and while at Costco I saw my prize and boy was it cheap, for less than 10 bucks I could get like 7 dozen cookies. I made a quick call to my friend Bill to make sure he was good with Oreos and then the bad news; no go with Oreos, they needed to be Christmas cookies, you know, shapes, frosting, sprinkles, the whole 9 yards. Costco wasn’t going to cut it.
A day passed, then I figured I needed to go into action so I set out trying to get 80 dozen Christmas cookies donated, after all it is a worthwhile cause.
Grinch’s.
Walmart, Price Chopper, the whole lot; if we donate to you, we have to donate to everyone.
Fine.
I look at Nathan and then I consider my heart and my attitude and next, well I start loading up the cart. 10 dozen at Price Chopper, I cleaned them out. Next stop, Walmart. Walmart had what seemed like aisles and aisles of Christmas cookies, why hadn’t I come here first. 4 or 5 Dole Banana boxes filled up with dozens upon dozens of Christmas cookies, I was living a dream.
I felt like buying the remaining 70 dozen then and there but I held off and just got another 60 dozen because I wanted others to be able to get in on the fun. (I know, I hogged most of the fun, but when it’s fun it’s hard to stop.)
Did I miss the cash? Not really, in fact it was actually liberating to spend the money knowing that there are over 400 inner city kids who are going to enjoy a cookie this year and many of them may or may not have any presents under the tree this year. Sure it’s just a cookie to us as adults but trying telling that to a kid, no better yet, trying taking one from a kid who hasn’t had one for a long, long time.
Now for the part which blew my mind even more, as I left the parking lot, I explained to Nathan, my 5 year old, the power and the value of giving and that if our heart and our wallet are open to God and we give abundantly, well, God can abundantly give back to us. 2 hours later the abundance came, someone gave me a check for 5 water projects in India. You do the math; it’s quite a return, quite a blessing, quite a God thing.
Give, there’s no better feeling, especially when your heart is right!
Generosity=kids eating cookies=Water Projects in India! Crazy but wonderful math :)
Thank you Lord…your word is ALWAYS true!!