It Is More Blessed To Give Than To Receive

I think helping 4 year olds understand the lesson of "it is more blessed to give than to receive" is a pretty challenging concept at this stage in life, but still well worth the effort. It's the day before Thanksgiving and the twins and I spent part of our day today en route to and from various organizations in the community making donations for "wish list" items for Thanksgiving Dinners for the hungry and homeless in our city.

Here is a little sampling of how some of our conversations went today as we drove in our car from one destination to another:

Me: "Some families and kids aren't as lucky as you girls this year and some people need extra help and it sure would be nice of us to share some of our warm food with these people today..." and "Some people are very poor and don't have enough money to buy food and snacks to eat..." etc. etc.

Paige: "No way. That's our food. The poor people have to go shopping for their own food."

Taylor: "But, we want to eat that food. No, mommy, no..."

And, that's about how it went today as we chatted about how we can help others and about how Jesus wants us to help people when they don't have as many nice things or as much food as we do. While I fully know that the twins didn't appreciate our giving today to the community, someday as I tell them about this experience in the years to come (when they're older and able to understand the significance of giving vs receiving), I think they'll be glad they helped mommy give to the needy today.

I come from the school of thought where it's never too early to start planting the seeds for tomorrow. I don't know what life will exactly hold for Paige and Taylor, and I also don't know what personal financial blessings that they will gain for themselves through their hard work and efforts, but what I do know is that I want them to learn that whatever they may be blessed with, whatever monetary means they may have, they have a responsibility to give a portion back to those less fortunate. Today, was our first step in sowing those seeds in Paige and Taylor. As the years go by, we can continue to cultivate those seeds and I look forward to watching these early seeds in life bloom and grow...

As I reflect on our day and our efforts to give to those less fortunate than us, I know that I enjoyed this experience waaaaaaaaaay more than the twins did. I enjoyed explaining to the girls what we were doing and why we were doing it. Hopefully, however, as they grow older and in the years ahead, Paige and Taylor will come to appreciate this more and will discover for themselves how it truly is more blessed to give than to receive.