The Gift of Giving

Our church does a fantastic job of helping us in our goal to expand the girls’ local and worldview by highlighting needs in the community and globally. In the past year, Emma has worked hard on extra jobs around the house to earn money to help build a well in Africa and is currently trying to make money to help fix donated cars for people in need in our local community. I am grateful that we have a partner in trying to impress upon our kids that they have ways that they can help others even when they are little. We were on our way to church this past weekend, and Emma and I were thinking back to the need for clean water in Africa and then talking about people that don’t have cars to drive where we live, and how that can make it hard to get to work. She thought for a moment, and then, with all the purity of a four-year-old heart, said, “We have all the things, Mama.” She didn’t think about the 16-year-old TV that we just gave away or the 9-year-old TV with broken bunny ears that we still have. She didn’t wish for newer cars or a house with another bedroom. She simply saw that we have all the things we need. And she was right, we do have everyone and everything we need and more. And, in that moment, I saw the dual beauty in trying to raise generous givers. Not only do we hope to give the world two human beings who think of others in addition to themselves, but I also realized that with the help of our church, we are giving our daughters another gift. It is the ability to appreciate all that they have been generously blessed with, focusing on their own haves instead of have nots. And that is a gift that I deem priceless.