As I have gotten older, when I receive change at a store from using cash—which isn’t very often—I usually put it in this cleverly disguised piece of pottery on my desk. I keep the coins there until the container is almost full and then give it to my mother. The look on Mom’s face is always worth the wait. She loves collecting change, packing it in those coin slips, and taking her treasure to the bank. I had a best friend who would save way more change than I had ever dreamed of having and would give it to Mom on Christmas and her birthday. Again, she had the same wide eyes, like children on holidays. He enjoyed her gasps more than I did.
Change brings me back to the story in the bible about the woman who brought all of her few pennies to the altar and offered it up as her gift to the church and to God. God saw her offering as special because she gave almost all that she had, as opposed to the people who gave large offerings of only a very small portion of their wealth.
I have given in both ways. When I gave all that I had, the offering was more a gift of faith. I believed in my heart that, as I gave and left my coffers empty that God would, indeed, fill it with more than I could imagine. Sometimes this miracle happened in unexpected ways, sometimes not.
I’ve, also, given a tithe (a tenth) of what I had received from working as a gift to the church or to the poor. I did this for many years and did see that I rarely ever noticed that my bank account had less in it than I needed. But, one day, I was giving in that same manner and my finances began to crash. I didn’t seem to have enough to get through the month without stressing. I stopped believing in the reciprocity of God, became resentful of my tithe, and decided that I should stop giving until I was not resentful. I remembered the scripture in Matthew 5:24 that says just leave your offering at the altar and go be reconciled to your brother. I figured that meant giving without forgiveness, even to God, was not a good thing. For many months I put nothing in the basket.
After many years of wondering just what Spirit expected of me about giving, I decided that my entire life is a gift, if I let it be. If I am a conduit of God, a place where spirit can manifest any and all to the earth as Itself through me, then I have given the greatest gift I can give to God and to the earth. Money won’t be an object, giving will be a matter of what I have, when I have it, and will be there for whatever I need it to be.
In this way, I have acted for quite some time. Some days, I feel the church really needs money. Some days I feel as if my sister or mother of friend might need the majority of my money a lot more. However, I do consider that if I very easily will spend thirty dollars on a fun dinner with a friend or a drink, I should, also, consider that supporting my church for sitting there, the electricity, the payment of the staff.
Working at a church for most of my life or being a volunteer, I realize that churches are businesses ,too. They need money to function. Most people who sit in the pews don’t really understand how that works. They will drop 100 dollars at a live concert and get a modicum of joy from it, but then sit in church every Sunday expecting to get undergirded with peace and good thoughts, but not place any of their finances toward that very important aspect of their lives. So, if I have a prosperous week, I make sure I have supported the many ways life had supported me—the church is definitely one of those.
I have nothing and no one to force me to write this message, as I’m not a church. So, you can see, I have nothing to gain by sharing this message, so don’t take it as a resentful ploy to get your money. I’m simply sharing a truth. The universe has laws—big laws. Two of them are the love of sowing and reaping, and the law of prosperity. Both require that you place your energy and money as seeds into the universe, so that even your own finances will grow as your give. Money is not meant to store away for all of eternity. I have had friends who have done that and kept waiting to retire to enjoy it. They never got the chance to use it because of untimely deaths.
Even if it’s just the change you collect from week, start to give. I don’t really care whom you give to, but give it. You’ll notice a change in your attitude and certainly in the idea of abundance in your life.
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Chosen to show his new hypnotherapeutic techniques on The Learning Channel (TLC) and also given the opportunity to teach at the world conference for Learning, and received the award of excellence for Helping Overcome Obesity in Nashville, Bo Sebastian is the writer and director of Finding Authentic You and Uncommon Gay Spiritual Warrior. Go directly to Amazon/Amazon Kindle to buy any of his wonderfully inspired books: ]
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