A friend of ours (more closely related to her) will be
celebrating their daughter’s birthday soon and we have been invited. The couple
however has requested that we do not buy any presents for their daughter. Ok..
this sounds very familiar… “Should you wish to bless us, monetary mode
preferred”. But the next thing she told me really struck me and the thought has
been in my head ever since. They would on that day pass around a box and all
money collected on that day would be donated to an orphanage! It struck me for
these couple of reasons:
1.
In our plenty, are we really thankful for all we
have and think about the masses out there that are less fortunate or do we
continually covet for more? Apart from being just verbally thankful, do we
express this by sharing?
2.
How often do we actually actively think of ways to bless the less fortunate? We often
become passive contributors where somebody else’s thinks of a donation program
and we just contribute. We can as easily be active contributors ourselves.
Their plan was ingenious.
3.
We have come to a point in society where we the
rich (and I am talking about people like you and me who have more than enough
to get by the day) continually benefit each other (i.e. buying presents for
each other). Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that it’s wrong to buy
presents in appreciation of each other but it shouldn’t stop at just that.
Honestly, we are the group of people that do not need to receive presents. We
have enough. I have to reiterate this again – I am not proposing against giving
presents to one another as a gesture of appreciation but we need to take the
extra step to think of people, kids who are orphans who live in communal houses
instead of the loving embrace of our parents.
4.
Do we really need all the gifts? Just last year,
we celebrated Athalie’s birthday and I was really happy to receive all the gifts
on Athalie’s behalf. Seriously happy that we receive so much and thankful for
the generosity of our friends and families. But after hearing about what these
couple were going to do… I began asking myself… “Did Athalie really need all
the presents?” She already has lot of toys… Definitely more than what she can
play with. Could we have taken similar steps and bless some other kids who
needed them more? Let’s stop talking about 2nd hand toys and start
thinking about giving 1st hand toys.
The only reason why these thought have struck me is this, I
myself is as guilty as hell of being selfish and thinking of nothing more but
myself. I am a super passive contributor who hibernates most of the time unless
it’s out of a lot of convenience to contribute. Food bank at church… yea sure I
USE to buy extras just because it was super convenient… you know… pick another
can… easy ma. But looking back at how much God has blessed me, how oblivious I
am people who are less fortunate, the little effort I have taken to bless
others and how these couple who have just decided to donate everything they
collect on their daughter’s birthday party really struck my heart.
So my resolve, easiest to execute is to copy. We can easily
do the same and make that difference. Of course this is still a draft plan
pending further discussion with wifey to see how best to maximise opportunities
like this to not only bless others but at the same time to teach our daughter
(and upcoming son) about sharing and putting a thought for the less fortunate
and to help daddy be a more active contributor just like mummy.
