Each day we have the opportunity to offer kindness, inspiration and hope to others, be it through our words, our actions or our presence.
Following through on such opportunities can bring us, as the givers, deep satisfaction, deep gratification. The more we act upon these opportunities the more such actions become ingrained and habitual for us.
This Tuesday, December 2, is #GivingTuesday, a movement started two years ago by the 92nd Street Y and the United Nations Foundation.
As the website www.givingtuesday.org puts it:
“We have a day for giving thanks. We have two for getting deals. Now, we have #GivingTuesday, a global day dedicated to giving back.
“On Tuesday, December 2, 2014, charities, families, businesses, community centers and students around the world will come together for one common purpose: to celebrate generosity and to give.
“It’s a simple idea. Just find a way for your family, your community, your company or your organization to come together to give something more.
“Then tell everyone you can about how you are giving. Join us and be a part of a global celebration of a new tradition of generosity.”
As I sit here and write early on Friday morning, November 28, thousands and thousands of people have already tackled their holiday shopping.
It sparks a bit of envy in me as I have not yet begun, but it takes strategy that I do not have to master the game of Black Friday. Then there is Cyber Monday, a bit more my speed.
And now there is #GivingTuesday, a chance to give to others, others we perhaps do not and will not ever know, through donations, time and talent via organizations in an effort to improve lives.
#GivingTuesday’s “global celebration of a new tradition of generosity” is something that could become ingrained in us, habitual for us. #GivingTuesday can be added to our list of ways to offer kindness, inspiration and hope to others.
Shamelessly, I offer Guideposts Foundation’s Outreach Ministries as an organization to which you can give on #GivingTuesday (or any day of the year).
Our Military Outreach program provides inspirational booklets to thousands of servicemen and women around the world.
OurPrayer is available 24/7 for people to submit prayer requests, pray for others and receive a sense of God’s presence and connection to others. Each request is prayed for individually by name and need.
I have been witness to lives saved, lives changed, lives enhanced by our outreach ministries. Each program has profound healing possibilities, each one offers a bit of grace to those it touches.
As Anne Lamott has said, “[Grace] meets us where we are, but does not leave us where it found us.”
The gift of giving that grace, and receiving grace through our giving, are two sure things when participating in #GivingTuesday and Guideposts Outreach Ministries. Let’s make it habitual together.
