Teaching My Kids to Give

Amazing how kids catch on so easily. They are quick to help and bless others. My kids are the prime example. I have always taught my kids how to be giving. I feel that this is a good quality that should be instilled from a young age.

I have always taught my kids that the Lord blesses a happy giver. He will bless us if we give from our hearts and that is exactly what He did for us today, in more ways than one.

Last night I feel that the Lord inspired me to participate in "Give Christmas Away". This is a Christmas mission to Africa. We are to gather items in shoe boxes for children in Africa. This is to reach out to them with the love of Christ. Many of them have never heard of the name of Jesus and what an awesome way to show them, by taking them a Christmas gift. I made a call to see if a friend has any shoe boxes. She didn't, so I was kinda bummed, seeing that today is the last day.

Instead of that, I decided to go ahead and pick up some canned goods on my way home from doing laundry, last night. We got back to the church and we all sorted them out. I explained to the kids that although we are poor, there are others out there that have it worse than us. They really didn't need that explanation, because they just love to give, but I wanted them to know that there really are a lot of people worse off than us.

We sorted them all out and I even took the tuna out of the cabinet. I did this purposely to show my daughter something. As I knew she would, she said "Momma, tuna is my favorite. Why are we giving that away"?

I just smiled and said, "Sometimes we have to make sacrifices and even if it is giving the best of what we have". She agreed and I told her that the Lord will bless her for giving her favorite canned food away.

This morning I was on my way to my cleaning job. While I was there, I received a phone call from the lady that I clean for. She also happens to be the counselor at the school. She asked me if I needed any canned foods. I just giggled and explained that my kids brought some up there today. I ended up telling her my entire situation and also how I was teaching my kids to always give, no matter what.

To make a long story short, she brought me this huge box of food with all sorts of things that the kids love. Things like Ravioli and Jello. I almost cried but my smile wouldn't allow me to.

I can now show my kids that the Lord will bless their giving. Especially when they give the best that they have.