Be faithful

“…fix your attention on God.    You’ll be changed from the inside out.”

  (Romans 12:2 The Message)

To give is to Respond Gratefully

My dad would sit down at the kitchen table on Saturday evenings, write a check, and put it in the envelope.  Then he would set it on the corner of the kitchen counter next to his car keys.   That’s it.  He never said anything to my brother and me about stewardship, about giving to God, about the importance of sharing.  He just did it.  He never missed.  He still does it every Saturday night.  It’s a powerful memory, and it continues. 

I did not inherit my dad’s organizational skills, nor more honestly, his faithfulness.  I have been known to search my purse for a pen while the ushers were coming down the aisle, or to fill out my check for the offering while the pastor was recapping the Gospel lesson.  If by some chance the plate went by before I finished – more times than I care to admit – that week’s offering never made it anywhere. 

But I still remember that envelope sitting by the car keys.  And some weeks I lay my own witness on the kitchen counter for my kids to see.  I might even write a bigger check to “catch up.”  It’s not a have-to it’s a want-to something from my past that allows me to be faithful. 

- Barbara DeGrote, from The Abingdon Guide to Funding Ministry, Vol. 3 by Donald Joiner and Norma Wimberly

God Is Still In Control!

Miss Lladale Carey
Web Content Producer
www.umcgiving.org
lcarey@umcom.org