Advent – A Week of Sundays – Giving

Greetings Dear Reader,

We have all heard that it is better to give than to receive.  No matter how vast or thin our finances we can find ways to give to others.  No matter the whether we know someone or not we can find a way to give.  There are so many tiny ways we spread joy to others through giving.

I rarely just give lists but I think some examples may serve best here.

• There is the Salvation Army kettle.  I never pass one without giving something.  Every penny matters.
• When I see a mother with children loading her car I offer to take the shopping cart so she does not have to leave the children alone or keep the child in the cart and carry said child back to the car.
• I remain flexible with family in my time expectations.  It is the ones with toddlers who need the consideration not me.
• I go through my closet and box up things I have not worn in a year or so and donate them.

Everything about the practice of tiny giving is cumulative.  Every time we purpose to give in small ways we increase our own joy.  We must give freely without expectation of return.  In doing this we emulate Christ.

When I am unhappy about something this is one of the ways in which I pull out of it.  Giving to others and seeing them feel joy fills my spirit with joy as well.  Does not Christ make his joy complete by giving himself for us?

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store."