Welcome back to A Time to Give, my weekly feature where we share ways to give, ways to share, ways to be generous. If this is your first time stopping by, welcome! You can read the original A Time to Give post HERE. In a nutshell, I started this feature as a way for us to inspire each other to be even more generous. I tend to get wrapped up in finding great deals, and I don't want to lose sight of one of the reasons we live frugally... to be able to give more. Each week I'll share a giving idea of mine, and you share a giving idea of yours.
I have been incredibly blessed by the helping hands that have been extended to my family after my surgery Monday. First, as I mentioned the upcoming surgery to a friend in church on Sunday, her initial reaction was to offer to pray for me. Then she immediately asked if we needed meals. My parents gladly watched Emma for us Sunday night and again Monday night as I had to stay at the hospital unexpectedly. My dad came and kept me company at the hospital while Jason tended to Emma for a while. My mom took an unexpected day off of work to watch Emma for us on hospital day #2. She also made us dinner for our first night home (with enough for a second night). A friend from our Financial Peace class (and also a fellow preschool mom) handed Jason a meal (complete with brownies!) in the preschool pickup line today. Another friend from our small group emailed to see how I was doing and asked if we needed meals, housecleaning, or anything else.
I need to be more like them.
I do pray for people who are having surgery or just going through a rough time. I am not quick enough to jump in with a practical helping hand though. You bet I will be quicker after this!
Isn't it funny how our own circumstances - and how others react to our circumstances - can drive us to be better people?
Now it's your turn to share your ideas for sharing, giving, and being generous. Note: If you are reading this post via an email subscription or a blog reader, you'll need to click the title of the post in order to see the links left by others.
You can participate in a couple of ways. If you're a blogger, write a post about a way that you've been able to give. It can be something simple or something out-of-the-ordinary that you did. It can be something from this week or from last year. Don't think of it as bragging... It's a way to encourage others to take action and be more generous! A few guidelines for bloggers:
- Please add a link to Saving and Giving so that your readers can find everyone's ideas all in one place.
- Make sure the link that you add here takes people directly to your A Time to Give post, not the main page of your blog. To do that, publish your post, view your blog, right click on the title, and copy the shortcut. Then paste that shortcut in as your URL here.
- Bloggers who link to other posts or their main pages will have their links removed. This eliminates confusion for others who are looking for ideas on how to give.
- Please do not link to giveaways, contests, or ads.
- Feel free to use the image above in your post. It's not mandatory, but you're welcome to it!
If you're not a blogger, you can participate too! Simply click the comments link below this post, and leave your ideas there. I would love to hear from you!
If you have any questions about A Time to Give, please feel free to contact me at savingandgiving@gmail.com. I look forward to being inspired by your ideas on giving! And stop back each Thursday for a new edition of A Time to Give.
2 comments:
We had friends who had to travel 60 miles for hospital visits after their son had a horrible car accident. We bought gas cards and food cards for them to use as needed.
We, too, had a similar situation this last fall with me being in the hospital for an extensive time (almost a month) and a lot of women from our old church had stepped up to do meals, laundry, cleaned for us, etc. There was one family that had even taken our two little ones during the day for the week and had even kept them overnight to give my husband a break. Even after I had gotten home, there were still people that had done little surprises (and even bigger ones)... Since it was close to Christmas, there were people that had gotten gifts for the littles ones, etc. We had received boxes of food, Gift Cards, etc to help out with the holidays since I was out of work during this time. Here it is 3 months later since all of this had started and the other day we had received food from two people. It is an amazing feeling that there are people out there that do things like this. I feel quilty at times, but my husband reminds me that one day we will be able to do the same thing for another family in need.
I too want to be more like these women and be quicker to think what can I do for that family...
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