i give selfishly.  yup, you read that right.

Why do you give? 

I love giving gifts.  I love giving to meet a need.  I love giving in general.  It’s one of my “gifts” you might say.  Hopefully this can be an inspiration or thought provoking for you to think about why you give. 

Many people I have known that are givers find it hard to receive.  I am not sure exactly why this is but it can be difficult.  My great aunt, who was one of the most humble and giving people I have ever met, taught me an invaluable lesson.  She was trying to bless someone and they wouldn’t receive it and she told them “Don’t rob me of the blessing of giving this to you.”  That stuck deep within me.  Giving is more of the blessing than receiving.  So true!  I have had so much joy and fun blessing people. 

So I really give selfishly, I guess.  WAIT!!  Let me tell you about my favorite way to give.  The most fun and joy I’ve had in giving is when I do it in secret.  Yes, the recipient has no idea where it came from.  I love getting creative to be so sneaky.  A favorite Little House on the Prairie episode of mine is a Christmas one.  Everyone has to hide what he or she is making or buying someone for Christmas that year.  There were so many little white lies or secrets being kept just to bless someone else.  Between the barn and the little house they had to be creative with such a large family.  I love that episode. 

I have gone out of my way to be sneaky.  I’ve anonymously mailed a money order to someone so they didn’t know where the cash came from.  I even sent someone something from another town so they wouldn’t know it was I.  I’ve had someone else write a note out and given a gift so I couldn’t be identified.  It is so much fun.  It is also fun in the store or restaurant blessing someone and they don’t know who the heck you are.  I have had someone else deliver a gift for me so they could just be blessed and not know where it came from.  I have walked through a store before with the only purpose to seek out someone whom God leads me to and bless him or her.  The best part about it is being able to just say, God loves you and be blessed.  They don’t know me from Adam. My Bible says every good and perfect gift comes from above.  God can have all the glory.

Definition of the word give:

to present voluntarily and without expecting compensation; bestow:

Another thought.

Have you ever met someone who seems to keep track of their giving?  If they help you out, then you owe them help back.  If you received something from them, you owe them back.  According to the definition, that isn’t giving.  Think about why you do, what you do.  What is your motivation?  Does someone owe you because you have done so much for them?  In all brutal honesty, I have quit letting certain people help me because I don’t want the “pressure” of having to owe them anything in return. What a relief.

My Heavenly Father is the greatest example.  As I celebrate this season as the birth of Jesus, I reflect more on the fact that He didn’t stay a baby.  His whole purpose on earth was to be born to die.  A sacrifice was made so you and I would have the GIFT of eternal salvation.  Nothing can be done to earn it.   That is what a TRUE GIFT is.

If you have any sneaky giving ideas, please share.  I’d love to hear some creativity…..I’m running out.