Balancing is an act that seems to get applied to more and more aspects of life.
There is a need to balance:
sleep and wake time
fun and work
healthy and less healthy food
warm and cold
so much more
and recently a need to balance giving and more giving. What? How can you balance something and more of something? That doesn't make any sense! Let me try to explain...
In recent months, actually about two years, I have come across countless organizations and causes that I 100% love and want to support. Adoption fundraisers are popping up faster than spring flowers. More mission trips are going out than I can count. Children in foreign countries need to get sponsored and sent to school. Local neighbors and friends are struggling to meet basic financial needs.
Organizations are raising money for beds, mosquito nets, water, and countless other things that I take for granted. The men, women, and children that receive these things are only different from me in one way. Yes, there is only one thing that separates us. Do you have any idea what this one thing is? The one thing that makes me different from the kids that sleep on a concrete floor, the parents that make their children beg so there is money to get food, the families that fear illness because of mosquitos is the country in which we were born. Think about it! Any one of us could just as easily been born into a family that lives in a trash dump or begs for food. I don't know about you but this is pretty mind blowing to me.
To bring that rabbit trail back to the main path, I would like to say that my heart is burdened for these people. I have meet a family and been in their home that is at the trash dump. I have played with and daily think of kids that live in orphanages and hope to have a future other than living on the streets. My heart is heavy for these people that are the sons and daughters of Christ. I long for them to know their Heavenly Father and I long for them to have the essentials needed to thrive in their culture. They don't need cable, electronic gadgets, big houses, and closets full of stuff. They do need shelter, water, food, and safety, both physically and spiritually.
This is where the question is proposed. Where is the line? When do you draw the line and say that you can't help any more people? When do you say I have helped enough and now I need to save a little so that I may have such things also? If people gives literally 100% of their income, then how are they going to provide for themselves?
Today, I was blessed to give a gift to someone. It was not her birthday. It is not Christmas, nor is it Christmas in July. I just really wanted to give something to her. Focus on the middle part of the previous sentence: really wanted to give. What if everyone had that attitude? What if everyone really wanted to give? If everyone gave, would everyone receive?
Admittedly, I could not give 100%. My earthly ways and desires do not allow me to honestly believe that I would be provided with everything I truly need. So, where do I draw the line? When do I say, I can only help this, this, and this right now? When is it ok to say no to giving? Isn't giving much more enjoyable than receiving? I believe it is!!!! But there has to be a limit! So how do I balance giving with more giving?
Where do you draw your line? How do you decide when the giving needs to end?
There is a need to balance:
sleep and wake time
fun and work
healthy and less healthy food
warm and cold
so much more
and recently a need to balance giving and more giving. What? How can you balance something and more of something? That doesn't make any sense! Let me try to explain...
In recent months, actually about two years, I have come across countless organizations and causes that I 100% love and want to support. Adoption fundraisers are popping up faster than spring flowers. More mission trips are going out than I can count. Children in foreign countries need to get sponsored and sent to school. Local neighbors and friends are struggling to meet basic financial needs.
Organizations are raising money for beds, mosquito nets, water, and countless other things that I take for granted. The men, women, and children that receive these things are only different from me in one way. Yes, there is only one thing that separates us. Do you have any idea what this one thing is? The one thing that makes me different from the kids that sleep on a concrete floor, the parents that make their children beg so there is money to get food, the families that fear illness because of mosquitos is the country in which we were born. Think about it! Any one of us could just as easily been born into a family that lives in a trash dump or begs for food. I don't know about you but this is pretty mind blowing to me.
To bring that rabbit trail back to the main path, I would like to say that my heart is burdened for these people. I have meet a family and been in their home that is at the trash dump. I have played with and daily think of kids that live in orphanages and hope to have a future other than living on the streets. My heart is heavy for these people that are the sons and daughters of Christ. I long for them to know their Heavenly Father and I long for them to have the essentials needed to thrive in their culture. They don't need cable, electronic gadgets, big houses, and closets full of stuff. They do need shelter, water, food, and safety, both physically and spiritually.
This is where the question is proposed. Where is the line? When do you draw the line and say that you can't help any more people? When do you say I have helped enough and now I need to save a little so that I may have such things also? If people gives literally 100% of their income, then how are they going to provide for themselves?
Today, I was blessed to give a gift to someone. It was not her birthday. It is not Christmas, nor is it Christmas in July. I just really wanted to give something to her. Focus on the middle part of the previous sentence: really wanted to give. What if everyone had that attitude? What if everyone really wanted to give? If everyone gave, would everyone receive?
Admittedly, I could not give 100%. My earthly ways and desires do not allow me to honestly believe that I would be provided with everything I truly need. So, where do I draw the line? When do I say, I can only help this, this, and this right now? When is it ok to say no to giving? Isn't giving much more enjoyable than receiving? I believe it is!!!! But there has to be a limit! So how do I balance giving with more giving?
Where do you draw your line? How do you decide when the giving needs to end?
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