Inspirational Giving

This week’s conversation is going to be a little different because I want to spark something inside of you that was sparked inside of me several years ago. We are just coming out of talking about debt. A heavy and somewhat burdensome conversation. I hope that you got a lot of value from what we discussed, but I also want to put life back into perspective really quickly and circle around to a conversation we had in our last session. If you have a balanced budget (step 1), I want to inspire you as you begin to think about giving (step 2). 

Lauren and I had just moved to a new house in a new town and we were looking for a church. We had visited a couple in the area, but hadn’t found a church that we wanted to call our home. But along the way, we still committed to tithing, we just didn’t have anywhere to tithe to. So we decided to get an envelope and every month when we would typically give 10%, we just put that 10% in the envelope. After about three months, we decided that we wanted to give the money we had set aside to someone who was in need in our circle of community. 

Every Friday morning, I had made a habit of taking our oldest out to breakfast. Her sister had just been born, and so this was my time to spend a little one on one with my oldest girl. Every Friday, we would go to the same restaurant, we would have the same waitress, my daughter would order a cinnamon roll with bacon and I would order three eggs over easy with bacon and hashbrowns. I was starting to feel like a local in this new town as I drank my black coffee and told the waitress, “We’ll have our regular, please.” 

One week around this time, we went in, and our waitress was walking, but bent over at the waist and in clear pain. As she painstakingly made her way to our table, I could tell she wasn’t doing good at all. “I’m sorry to ask, but what happened? Are you ok?” She winced and told me that this week, she had slipped and broken her back. I asked her if she had been to the doctors and she said that she had, but they told her she was going to need a special brace that her health insurance was not going to cover. She said that the show must go on, and she had decided in her mind that this was just going to be her life. When she came back with our food, I asked her if she would mind telling me how much her back brace was going to cost. She told me how much and my jaw dropped to the floor. It was almost the exact amount of money that we had put away in our giving envelope. 

I went home, told Lauren the story, and we both agreed. The money needed to go to her so she could get a back brace. I got the envelope and took it to the restaurant and upon seeing the waitress, I asked her if she wouldn’t mind stepping outside for just a moment. I told her that we felt God had led us to give her this money and we were certain that God wanted to bless her with a back brace so that she could heal properly. As I handed her the envelope, she was still in shock and didn’t really know what was going on. She opened the envelope filled with nearly the exact amount of money she needed and as it all sank in, she broke down weeping. She gave me a hug and with tears in her eyes, she said that she didn’t know how she was going to keep living. This gift had given her hope.

Let me tell you something, she received the blessing with open arms. The next week, we went to breakfast and she was walking upright with a brand new back brace. In that moment, my life was changed forever. I saw the power of giving and it made me want to work harder so we could have more to give. 

This week, I want to prime the pump of giving in your life. If you’ve never given before or have been giving all of your life, I believe that this exercise will invigorate a renewed desire in your heart to give more than you ever thought was possible before. Between now and your next session, here is my giving challenge for you: 

Go to the bank and get out a crisp $100 bill. If you’re married, you each need to get out $100. If you don’t have an extra $100 right now, then take out $20 or $50, but whatever amount you take out, take out something and place that in your wallet or your purse. Before you next week, it is your job and responsibility to give that money away to someone in your circle who could really use it. Here are a couple rules - This gift is for a person, maybe an individual or a family, not for an organization. I want you to see a face when you give this gift. Don’t be so quick to look for someone on the street and neglect the people right around you in your daily life. 

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Zach Santmier is the owner of Trumble Agency, Inc. and the author of the personal financial course, Increase. He focuses on helping families escape paycheck to paycheck living so they can freely pursue their ideal future.