a cheerful giver

God loves a cheerful giver, right? Of course. That’s a given. I’m always so proud of my kids – they are cheerful givers, especially when they are giving away money that isn’t theirs. Let me explain.

Yesterday, as we were getting ready for church, my youngest who is five, turned to me and said, “Mommy, I don’t need Daddy to give me money for church today. I have my own money.” He patted his pocket with a big grin. I had a moment of pride then and smiled at him, thinking he must have dug into his bank for a couple of quarters or a dollar bill. Right?

Fast forward 2 hours. We are sitting in church waiting for the offering plate to make it’s way to us. My husband hands a bill to my five year old, who promptly turns and whispers with a big smile, “Daddy, I brought my own money.” He then proceeds to pull this huge wad of cash out of his pocket. I mean, seriously, there must have been $30 or $40 there.My husband looks at me, and I look at this wad of cash. “Where did you
get that?” I ask.
“I found it.”
“You found it?”
“Yes, next to the phone.”
Trying to stifle a laugh, I shake my head. “Honey, you can’t give that. That’s Cub Scout money. It doesn’t belong to us.”

Well, of course, he was crushed. He was so pleased to be giving ‘his own money.’ He was genuinely confused and disappointed. So I gave him a couple of bucks and told he could pay me back from his bank when we got home. What can I say, his heart was in the right place. So we made an agreement that from now on his could give something from his own savings, something that really was ‘his own money.’