So I'm thinking about Christmas gifts for my brothers' families. I got a World Vision catalog in the mail today, and it started me thinking that maybe instead of getting physical gifts for them this year, maybe we could give money to the Forsythe's to buy stuff for the hospital or for a family or something. I have no idea what it would be used for, and in after thought, I probably shouldn't blog about this.
The scripture that says don't let your right hand know what your left hand is doing, regarding giving, but I always struggle with that. I so need approval of what I'm doing, that I feel like I need that affirmation that what I'm doing isn't stupid. Not whether it's right or wrong, because obviously giving your money to meet the needs of others that don't have anything isn't wrong, but I want to know if it's stupid to give money FOR someone else, or in honor of someone.
Maybe it's just my pride that I want people to tell me how great it is for us to do that. Really, it's not great. If it were great, then I wouldn't be putting the limit on the amount that I'm putting. I wouldn't be having the doubt in my heart. It's just something that I'm trying to change in my life, maybe to better the lives of people on earth, but hopefully to better the lives of people eternally. I just want to be a part of spreading God's word, and I'm doing nothing sitting here typing on a blog.
So, I'll stop for now and go look through my coupons and try and continue to save money, so we'll have more to give. It's not mine.
Just a thought...if your brother's families are expecting gifts from you (kids) and then they don't get them because you gave that gift money to a mission organization, it could cause some resentment. With adults, no problem, but the kids may be unwilling or unhappy to have their gifts go somewhere else. Depends on the level of maturity of the kids I suppose.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with this is that your choice of how to allocate the gift funds may not coincide with the child's wishes and then they will feel that they got slighted somehow.
Maybe a small low cost gift and then a note that you also made a contribution for them to the charity?
Isn't life complicated?
Well, the good news is, they don't expect anything, so there wouldn't be any disappointment. These kids understand missions and the point of it, so I think I'm safe with that.
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