Each of us has the opportunity every day to make a decision — Who will I love more, myself or my neighbor? We are called to sacrificial giving, to love our fellow man as much as we love self. How often do we make the wrong decision out of selfishness, fear of the future or skepticism of another’s need?
As we are ready to open the door on a new year, it is the perfect time to realign some of our life’s priorities. It doesn’t take much to make a big difference to someone else.
Tomorrow, choose one small thing that you can do to save some of the resources God has given you to be used on another. And then, on Monday, repeat. And so on and so on. A little drop a day will make a big splash over time!
What can you do? Here are some ideas:
- Eat one less lunch out each week. With that savings, you can support a child through Compassion International this year.
- Get your haircut every 8 weeks instead of 6. Each skipped salon cut (for women) will support a microloan to someone in a third world country through Kiva (www.kiva.com). A skipped barber appointment (for men) will buy a week’s worth of meals at the Dorothy Day Center through Loaves and Fishes (www.loavesandfishes.org).
- Skip a half hour of TV watching and make 50 bologna sandwiches with your family for 363 Days (www.363days.org).
- Put off that shopping trip for a new car a couple more months and use the interest you saved to support a program at your kids’ school.
- Instead of an expensive theater night, make your own drama with friends’ Game Night Pictionary. Ask everyone to donate the money that would have been spent on the theater or concert and support a missionary for a month!
Tomorrow is New Year’s Day. Time to cast off the old, put on the new. What are you going to do with your new beginning?
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