October 8-13: Chapter 4: Defined by Generousity

How do YOU want to be remembered?  What sort of legacy do you want to leave?  I’ve thought about these questions my whole life.

Which is why, in recent days, I’ve been trying to build bridges with relatives and people in my life in which I have either distanced myself or have been estranged by time and space.  For example, there were a couple of classmates from seminary that I visited this last summer.  They were both people I thought I had hurt and people I thought had hurt me.  I passed the ‘peace’ with them, they with me.  I want to die with NO REGRETS.  I know!  I’m only 44.  Hopefully I’ll have a long journey of good times and even fewer regrets ahead of me. But, why wait?

I’ve striven (not sure if that’s the correct verb here but I’m going with it) to live my life in such a way that no one will wonder about my core principles, my values, and my faith.  It’s taken me a long time to understand how to use the gifts that I have been given, even longer to LIVE into the reality of “Life is a gift, and everything belongs to God,” like Adam wrote in the middle of page 79.

If everything belongs to God then that includes me, my stuff, my gifts, my time, my treasures, my livelihood, my relationships, my hopes, my dreams, my golden-doodle, my Apple products (yeah, I know… but I don’t mean it in a snobbish sort of way, Apple products have a more ‘right-brain’ feel to me and I still have a 3G so don’t judge me – which I know you never would because I’ve preached that over and over and over and over…), and my bank account.

So, if everything belongs to God and I’ve been called to care for it, then I need to be thoughtful about how I use all the above.

As I said, it took me a few years to ‘get’ that everything belongs to God, and therefore, it took me a while to wrap my head around tithing.  I think part of my problem was that I justified not tithing by saying to myself, ‘Hey, you work for God all the time, so why give a full 10% of the money you received from the church back to the church?’

News Flash: Just because your check comes from a church does not mean you get to play the clergy card, Jules.  It’s the opposite.  You need to set the example; walk the walk, talk the talk.  (That was me talking to me – don’t freak out, I do it all the time).

I’m slow but I am steady.

I tithe.

There is always money left over.

So I go beyond a tithe now that I have relinquished my desires and moved into generousity. (Yeah, I like the British spelling better in case you had not yet noticed, feel free to put that on JKRowling or Laurie R. King).

So, then, my  two part question to you this week as you read through chapter 4 is pretty simple and pretty profound:

How has your generousity been expressed over the last year and how were YOU changed by expressing it?

Bonus questions:
1)  Are you willing to create a plan with tithing at the base of your budget?

2) Have you thought about what sort of legacy you want to leave?  If so, what are your hopes?

3) A growing trend is writing your own obituary.  The Rev. Andrew Rogness, brother of Bishop Peter Rogness of St. Paul Area Synod, wrote part of his obit prior to his death a few years ago.  I have it hanging on my cork board at home.  It reads in part:

“Loved life and has gone exploring.”    (And a little later from his family:)

“May he find adventure, answers, and new mysteries in which to revel.”

How will your obituary read?

Let me know when you get a chance.

 

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