Today's challenge is to make a generosity jar. I hunted high and low for a suitable jar but couldn't find anything. For now I've settled on a candle holder but it really doesn't appeal to my creative side!
The idea behind this challenge is to collect loose change in the jar that will then be used later on in lent. I happened to have a whole pile of change on my bedside table so quite smugly popped it all into my jar. I gave myself an imaginary high five and a gold sticker and went off to work.
During the day I was suddenly struck by my actions. All the loose change I had chucked inside my jar had been sat there on my bedside table for weeks. The only times I looked at it was when I wondered if I had enough time to swing by Starbucks before work, or whether I'd need one of the pound coins for a shopping trolley at Tescos. Not once had I thought to use it to be generous and bless someone else. The smug feelings from the morning were beginning to fade away. Why did I never think to carry around that change? Perhaps I'd meet a homeless person who needed a sandwich and a coffee. Perhaps I'd see the guy selling the Big Issue outside Sainsburys. Perhaps a friend would be having a bad day and I could buy them something just to make them smile.
In Kids Church when I ask the children why we do an offering the mantra we have is "because God gave us everything and we want to give him something back to say thank you." Everything I am and everything I own is his, not mine. All my loose change is his not mine. It will be hard to look at the change in my purse and think about my generosity jar instead of my Starbucks/new boots/takeaway food. My prayer is that I will remember God gave it to me and so I should use it to be generous.
