Thursday, October 24, 2013

History: Donations

Tithing was a law in my house growing up, and it was never a hard principle for me to get on board with. Get money, pay your tithing. Easy. I was raised that way and I was promised that if I did I would be blessed both spiritually and financially.

The financial blessing really sunk in for me. I was probably 8 or 9 years old, for the first tithing settlement I vividly remember. Tithing settlement happens at the end of the year when you meet with your religious leader to declare if you paid a full tithe or not. The clerk gave me a piece of paper with the report of the money I had paid that year. It couldn't have been more than $6 or $7. But at the very bottom of that little paper is the math. $6 is 10% of $60. So it showed "total income = $60".

I waited anxiously outside the bishop's office for our turn.

When it seemed that things were wrapping up, I asked my sister (or mom?) when we'd get all that money. Fully expecting a check for $60 at the end of the night, I was a bit disappointed to learn that was how much money I had "earned" that year and I wouldn't see another penny of it.

Though the financial blessings of paying tithing haven't come in the way I once thought they would, they have always come. We've been blessed with the ability to provide for ourselves and when that ability ran out, we've always been given exactly what we needed.

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A few years ago when we lived in Foxboro someone approached us about Friends of Scouting. They had announced in church that "every little bit helps" but when they asked us for money we (I) sortof cringed. Josh is definitely the generous one in this relationship. I think we gave them $5. (We were stingy stingy students!)

Fast forward to this year, Josh is collecting donations for Friends of Scouting. I asked him how it was going and my eyes nearly popped out of my head when he said someone gave him $150. One. Hundred. Fifty. Dollars. Cash money. To Friends of Scouting!!!! So I immediately flashed back to the cheapskates we were that year. I'm not sure who to apologize to for our insulting donation....so I'm apologizing to The Internet.

Dear Internet,
I'm sorry for coughing up 5 lousy dollars for the scouts. It's not that I don't believe in scouts, it's that I am cheap by nature and I had/have no concept of an appropriate donation size. Please forgive me and I'll do better next time.
Love,
Generous Me

Dear Scouting,
Stop being so dang expensive OK?
Love,
Poor Me

3 comments:

  1. We are still "stingy" students, but honestly are we? I mean, your student-life pittance of $5 very well could've represented a greater % of your income than the $150 did of the (I'm assuming) wealthier contributor's income.

    It's been shown time and again that poorer people tend to donate a larger percentage of their income to charity (even though the wealthy donate a higher figure it's less percentage-wise).

    http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/05/27/new-study-shows-poor-give-greater-percent-of-income-to-charity/

    Do not forget the story of the widow's mite. Sometimes parting with $5 takes faith, too.

    Sincerely,

    Raising three kids on a student stipend

    (just kidding! It's from ME!)

    That said, go ahead and donate more to FOS. I'll still probably pitch in $5. ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You make me laugh. I KNEW it was you the whole time! :)

      Also, stingy is relative. (and you aren't stingy) But I've never felt so dumb about a measly donation in my life. Who knew?!?!

      By way of update, someone else gave him $5 more recently than this post- so at least we weren't the ONLY people every to give $5 (though even if we were I should get over myself and be happy with where I am...)

      Blah.

      Delete
    2. I wouldn't feel one bit bad about $5 for scouting. That's still a donation! (I sort of hate scouting, don't listen to me.)

      Delete

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