Giving

Coneflower - Ginter Botanical Garden, Richmond, VA

Give and it shall be given to you.

A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and

 running over will be poured into your lap.

For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

Luke 6:38

Have you ever wished that you had a large sum of money to give to your favorite charity, or perhaps a tragedy-displaced family or Christmas child?  Two of my favorite charities are the Angel Tree project and Smile Train.  Angel Tree provides Christmas gifts for disadvantaged children in your own city, and Smile Train provides medical personnel in third world countries the money, supplies and training to provide cleft palate surgeries for children.

This last week, there was a tiny article on the Internet regarding a donation by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s Foundation to a Somali aid group to help it expand its health services to displaced mothers and children in Somalia’s war-ravaged capital of Mogadishu.  The $340,000 donation is an enormous amount for this charity that serves 300 women and children a day in the Badbaado camp for displaced people. The U.S. estimates that 750,000 people are at risk of starvation in southern Somalia in the next few months, and that the drought and famine have so far killed more than 29,000 children under the age of five.  Jolie-Pitt's generosity will ensure that the Somali charity can save as many people as possible.

Most of us do not have $340,000 to hand out to anyone, but we do have a few dollars to fill a box for Operation Christmas Child, or to give as a donation to the bell ringer at the Salvation Army kettle, or to hand out the car window to the homeless family huddled with their homemade sign. No matter how poor we are, there is always someone who has far less.  Our lives are enriched and blessed by sharing a gift with someone less fortunate than ourselves.

Prayer Needs for Today

For the families and children of Somalia

For the homeless and destitute in your area