Donuts in the Collection Plate?

Plastic Donuts: Giving that Delights the Heart of the Father, by Jeff Anderson, (Multnomah, 2013) is a delightful book. It’s a simple read, but certainly not all that easy if you try to put into practice the principles that the author discusses.

This is a book about biblical models of giving: tithing, giving sacrificially, giving based on your ability, giving because you can. And it all starts with a engaging and charming story about a little girl who brings her daddy a plastic donut. Okay who wants a donut in the collection plate? Even a plastic donut that doesn't leave crumbs.

But this is not a book about donuts or plastic, it’s about giving, but with a twist. Although Anderson discusses different ways that people give, (or don’t give) this is more about the “cheerful giver” (2 Cor 9:7) and the heart’s role in the giving process.  I smiled as Anderson described the day that his 18 month old daughter brought him a gift, her pleasure in giving it, and her pleasure in seeing his pleasure in receiving it. Yesterday I tried to put myself in that position: I bring something of importance to God, and He smiles as He watches my delight in bringing a present to Abba Daddy.  I can’t imagine Him smiling if I throw a check in the plate with a bitter attitude because I see the offering as a way God has of taking something that’s mine.

I’m encouraging people at the church where I serve to read this book to learn more about giving that delights the Father, and the giver!

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a review. I was not required to write a positive review.

5/5

Be a blessing

I’ve been thinking a lot about blessings lately. Oh sure, we all like to be blessed, have someone unexpectedly show up to mow the lawn, take us out to dinner, or bring us a present. And we really like the blessings that come in the form of cash or checks- especially in large amounts. But somehow I don’t think that’s what God had in mind when He talked about blessing people.

I have to be careful when speaking of blessings because of the culture in which I live. The LDS church is big on blessings. Some of their members receive Patriarchal Blessings, they bless babies, they offer blessings in cases of illness. Blessings are a good thing, but I don’t know enough about the LDS church to know what exactly is meant by the term. Maybe they mean the same thing I mean, and maybe it’s something different. I don’t know, so please don’t read something that I didn’t write. Don’t hear something that I’m not saying. It’s a word. Some people use it one way, and some people use it to mean something else. Don’t get confused, don’t get upset. Just read and draw your own conclusions.

In their book The Gift of the Blessing, (Thomas Nelson, 1993) Gary Smalley and John Trent talk about the components of the Old Testament blessing. They write that the 5 elements include 1) meaningful touch, 2) spoken words which 3) express high value 4) picture a special future, and 5) entail an active commitment on the part of the person offering the blessing.  Pretty powerful stuff.

And all this because, like many other parents, I want to be able to bless my child. Don’t get me wrong, he has everything he needs, and probably most of what he wants; we do things and go places, but I want to bless him in the sense that God blessed Abraham, that Isaac blessed Jacob (instead of Esau) and like Jacob eventually blessed Ephraim, the son of Joseph.

I want him to know that he is extremely valuable in my eyes and in the eyes of the Lord. I want him to know it because I’ve put my hand on him and told him so. Teenagers often have an inflated sense of their own importance, so he may or may not need affirmation and confirmation – today. But at some point reality hits and he will realize that there’s more to life than what he thinks of himself. I want him to know that apart from what he thinks he is important.

Hopefully he’ll be able to envision the future that lies in front of him, a special future, that means he will accomplish great things, not just to make his life financially secure, but things that will have an eternal impact for someone else, things that will impact a much larger circle than just his family and friends.

It’s easy to assume that he knows I’ll be there for him; that I’ll support his decisions and his endeavors, but he knows, and you probably know,  a lot of people whose parents aren’t necessarily there for them. He’s only going to know that I am committed to him if I let him know it, if I do what it takes to tell him and show him that I’m committed to helping him grow into the person that God intends him to be: a very special person with a great future.

Special and great because God created him that way. As the Psalmist said (Ps 139:14) "fearfully and wonderfully made." 

God created a lot of other people that way too. Who do you need to bless today? Who do you need to touch and affirm? What commitment are you willing to make?

Bless someone today. Future generations will be glad you did. 

Did You Oil Your Eyeglasses?

So yesterday afternoon some friends came over and we played games. You've been to those gatherings where people play games. In a lot of situations games are bad, but in this case they were good. They weren’t the social encounter type of games where you try to avoid saying what you’re really thinking, but what you’re really thinking is so obvious that you really don’t need to say it. It wasn’t one of those games where you keep checking to see where your spouse is as you’re flirting with all the other guests.

Nope we were playing board games. 'Tabu', where you give clues, but certain words are Taboo as clues and your teammates try to guess the word. And another one that has something to do with sentences. Everyone picks 10 cards and makes up sentences with the random words on the cards. The more points the better.

Sometimes as the evening goes on, adult board games, or kids board games played by adults, get pretty ridiculous as the players get a little oiled, but the only thing that got oiled yesterday was a pair of eyeglasses. Say What?
We stuck to finger foods, water, soda, and coffee, and about the most exotic consumable was some flavored creamer for the coffee.

And we had fun.

We laughed, we watched the snow fall, and just enjoyed each other’s company.
As far as the oiled eyeglasses? The winning sentence went something like this: George Washington dripped sloppy oil on coldly twisted eyeglasses. Grammatically correct, almost makes sense, and was worth a lot of points!

Sometimes it doesn’t take much to entertain you when you’re in good company. And I thank God for putting that good company into my life.