Giving Tuesday
Today we started Advent, marking days toward the celebration of the greatest gift mankind has ever known, celebrating the birth of Christ. How fitting that this year, today is also Giving Tuesday.
We follow days of gluttony and excess, perhaps self-absorption and consumption with a sweet day of being focused on doing good.
How do you find your heart for Giving Tuesday?
Giving Tuesday only started a few years ago, but is growing as more and more people recognize that we need to focus outside of ourselves.
While, a calendar day set to tell you to give can make it feel compulsory, God doesn’t specify what to give or who to give to, He just says how – joyfully.
2 Corinthians 9:7 ESV “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
We give because He gave to us.
As a faithful steward of what God has given me, I use Charity Navigator to research charities to make sure they are really doing good things with the money we entrust to them.
And I give prayerfully, I can’t control the gift once it leaves my hands, but sometimes God asks us to have faith in the giving. We give to the struggling single mom who has taken her first baby-steps into Christ, or the homeless man who might not use it wisely. Sometimes God just says give.
Thinking about the beautiful watershed of grace covering me in His eyes through the blood of His son, Jesus, how could I not give, to share that joy by being the hands and feet of Christ.
Christ has no body but yours, No hands, no feet on earth but yours- Teresa of Avila Click To TweetI’m reminded of a poem, written in the 1500s by St. Teresa of Avila.
Christ Has No Body
Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
I can only pray that people hear Him in my words, see Him in my hands. This poem has written itself across my heart as a reminder of my real place in this world.
If I want the world to see Jesus is real, I have to be their window into who He is.
And I strive to be a better friend, neighbor, mother. I want to be His hands when someone is struggling with a heavy door at the library or His heart when we sat and prayed at Pizza Hut for the person who stole the money out of my wallet, “if their need was great, that the money bless them, that God would open their heart to Jesus. To help us forgive.”
Even though Giving Tuesday is technically over, giving isn’t a day, or even a season, it is a constant place of knowing what a gift we’ve been given and just wanting to share it.
24 Comments
Lisa Morris
Yes, Jennifer, giving is an all the time action! Really enjoyed hearing your on giving!
Susannah
I love the idea of Giving Tuesday! I wish it would become as big a deal as Black Friday! <3
Anna Harris
Thanks for sharing! Giving is so important but you’re right sometimes we just have to give then pray that God handles the rest. We sometimes don’t know exactly where the money/gifts will be used but we have to trust Him. Thanks for the reminder on how important it is.
Tara
I love the prayer for the person who stole money out of your wallet. What a great example!
Jennifer
I couldn’t change it or fix it, but I could use it as a chance to be a witness for God in my life to my daughter instead of letting worry take away any reflection of Christ. Funny how praying for the their changed my heart too. I was instantly at peace and knew that I was beyond blessed to get my wallet back at all and to live with the abundance I do. If I couldn’t let go of $25-30, I didn’t need to eat our in the first place. And wouldn’t you know it but I found money later that I had forgotten about!
Miranda
I really like that poem, thank you so much for sharing it. I have just heard of Giving Tuesday for the first time this year–I hope it catches on and becomes as big as all the shopping days.
Jennifer
Me too!
Jonathan Key
Giving Tuesday sounds like a great idea! I think it’s great to be generous throughout the year but especially during the Christmas season.
Jennifer
It is easier to be generous at Christmas time because it is on our minds. I try to find a way to focus on giving once a month to a different cause. I even let the kids help choose, teaches them to focus on others.
Deborah
I hadn’t heard of Giving Tuesday before. I appreciate your insight on this.
Jennifer
Hopefully, we can all be ready for it next year!
Brianna
I really enjoyed this concept of Giving Tuesday. May we take the spirit of this one day and live it all year long. 🙂
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Jennifer
Absolutely!
andi
well if we ask God for how He wants us to be giving….
Helen
I’ve never heard of Giving Tuesday before this year – I wish I had though! I’ll be ready for next year though now!
Jennifer
Well, giving doesn’t expire. You can give today. I sent warm clothing to Syrian refugees in Iraq at midnight last night because I didn’t know where I wanted to give and it took prayer to know where God wanted my gift and heart.
Helen
Well no of course not!! I was just trying to say I’d never heard of there being such a thing and it might be something I’d be more aware of as a ‘day’ in the future. Points of reflection can be useful too.
Jennifer
I couldn’t add 😉 Emoji. I was trying to say that just because the day was over didn’t mean we have to stop celebrating giving as a season I’m sure you have lots of great charities that are very meaningful and do good work.
Marissa
What a great sharing of your heart. It is amazing that when I give joyfully I always get something in return, when I give because I feel I have to, nothing seems to be returned to me.
Marissa
Jennifer
Absolutely! And when I give cheerfully, how I don’t want any thanks because I gave from a spirit of humbly following God’s will not trying to impress anyone.
Alonda
I had never heard of giving Tuesday before. How cool!
Jennifer
Only a few years old. It was started in 2012, I believe, so not many have.
Aletha Oglesby
Hi, I just discovered Giving Tuesday this year and also featured it on my blog yesterday. I plan to make it a monthly post; I agree it should be a lifestyle . Thanks for sharing St. Teresa’s poem.
Jennifer
I love that poem. It completely changes my heart every time I read it.