Today is labelled “Giving Tuesday,” a day to reflect how we might share our resources to create a better world following a weekend of engorged shopping. The idea grew out of an article by Carlo Lorenzo Garcia, the artistic director of the Mary-Archie Theatre Company in Chicago, who suggested we should look around beyond ourselves.
Even before Giving Tuesday we were inundated with pitches from all of the causes we support, many of which tell us that some wealthy donor had offered to match our gifts by two, four, even five times. How do we decide between them all? Take the giving budget and divide it? Or sink it into one cause?
Very few of us, however, have the resources of a Bloomberg or Gates who probably make more money in the time it takes to give a real large hunk of money away. What’s important, though, is to realize that our gift, no matter how large or small, is one that constitutes a realization of hope, without which none of us can live.
Prayer for the Day
Your imagination cannot be confined, O Creator,
By the boundaries and limits we set for ourselves;
Your love cannot be held prisoner, O Lord,
By the walls we create for comfort around us.
Your peace cannot be overcome, Empowering One,
By the anxiety we often use to qualify our actions.
Enlarge our souls, in the name of him who gives us peace,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.
Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister (1874-1965)
You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.
Amy Beatrice Carmichael, Irish establisher of orphanages (1867-1951)
Each of you must give as you have made up your mind,
Not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance,
So that always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly
Paul in 2 Corinthians 9: 7-8