An Attitude of Gratitude?
I was really frustrated. I was frustrated because we had received so many requests for financial gifts and support that I was overwhelmed. At one point I asked the Lord to just cut off anyone asking my husband and me for any more donations. Part of my frustration was not even whether or not we had the money to give (I hadn’t even gotten there yet), but it was just the frustration of finding the time to discuss each request with Jeff, pray about it and then actually send the money. It seemed we were always behind in responding to these requests and that made me feel even worse about the whole thing.
Jeff and I had set up a portion of our budget to have funds available for this type of spur of the moment gifts throughout the year. Our monthly giving to church and missions was easy. We were on autopilot and it felt good. But it seemed like the special requests far outweighed the money available.
What had happened to me? Where was my trust in God? What happened to my attitude of gratitude? Did I really want the Lord to stop sending support requests to us? Whose money was it anyway? I had lost my focus.
Sometimes our focus can shift from God’s principles and purpose for us to less important facets of life. We are created to give with an attitude of gratitude to God. By not giving we miss out on blessings and growth in our Christian walk. By not giving, churches, missionaries, schools and good causes miss out on reaching their goal because of our lack of “God called” follow through. By not giving our attitude can shift from the recognition of gratitude that everything comes from God, to the belief that money we have is ours to spend as we choose. We lose the opportunity to build our faith to see that God will provide when we give to him. We lose the opportunity to see others benefit because we contributed.
Does this mean I should give to all those requests sitting in that pile of paperwork on my desk? No. But it does mean Jeff and I should take time to pray and ponder and follow through in a timely manner on each and every request we receive, with thankfulness in our hearts, that we have been asked to give and take part in God’s bigger plan for our world. Our focus is not one of responding to pressure or obligation from the requests, but rather doing the right thing
because we want to be Jesus’ servants. Do you ever feel this way?
Remember Psalm 24:1 “The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world and all who live in it.” Sometimes it helps to take a step back, count our blessings and seek God’s will for generosity.