Counting Blessings.

[curiouswombat]

We are counting our blessings for the next month. As a family, and as a church. One of our church members suggested it as a good focus through a month, and a good means of fund-raising, when it was passed to her by her sister.

I think it is probably meant to be a lenten exercise, or possibly for four weeks either leading up to, or following Thanksgiving, as I think her sister lives in the States.

So how are we counting our blessings? Well every day we have a particular blessing, written on a list - today's blessing is schooling -

'Some children never have the opportunity to go to school. Give 3p for every school those in your house have attended.'

It's going to be an expensive day today - S2C attended 9 schools between the ages of 5 and 17! So today our blessings are worth 45p.

You get the idea. There is a chart to cover the whole month - with a space to write in your total for each day, and you tally up at the end and give the money to your charity.

Our money is going to our Sunday School (Junior Church) funds, but it would be just as good for giving to a charity involved with any sort of aid.

If anyone is interested in joining us, counting your blessings for the next four weeks and giving the money to the charity of your choice, I will put the first week's blessings



Week 1.

Sunday. Pray that you may use your time wisely. Give 2p for each clock or watch in your house.

Monday. Water is very precious in many countries and often has to be carried a great distance. Give 2p for every tap (faucet) in your house.

Tuesday. Some children never have the opportunity to go to school. Give 3p for every school those in your house have attended.

Wednesday. Many people burn wood for cooking. Give 2p for each electrical appliance you have in your kitchen/utility room.

Thursday. Even candles are a luxury for some people. Give 1p for each light and lamp switch in your house.

Friday. Have you a Bible in your house? f so give 3p for each one - if not give 50p.

Saturday. In some countries families cannot afford shoes for the children. Give 2p for every pair of shoes in your house.

Those in places with cents not pennies could give a cent where it says a penny.



It will probably take me all day Saturday to count all the shoes!

I was going to ask you to let me know if you want me to continue putting the 'blessings' for you to count over the following three weeks on my journal - but I'm going to put them on anyway - as a reminder to myself, so that I can repeat some other time.

Comments

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I hadn't seen the eight levels of Tzedakah before - thank you. How right that giving a man a way to earn a living is the best form of charity. It reminds me of 'give a man a fish and you feed him for a day - give him a fishing net and he can feed his family for life' - which was an advertising line for Oxfam or similar a few years ago.

[frimfram.livejournal.com]

And the nastier version: build a man a fire and he'll be warm for a day; set him on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life!

[zanthinegirl.livejournal.com]

My grandmmother says "give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and he'll be out of your hair for hours! It's still a very worthwhile philosophy though!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I love it! Mine doesn't fish - but give him a computer...

[gillo]

I'd have to do a very careful check to see if it would be cheaper to have no Bibles or the number we've got! Just as well they don't want a penny per book!

It's a very nice idea.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I think we have 5 - so definitely cheaper to have than not!!

[gillo]

Frances went on a Bible hunt yesterday, for something she's doing with her coaching group tomorrow. She certainly had five different editions, and we have multiples of some of these.

[going-not-gone.livejournal.com]

What a nice idea! Would you mind if I passed this along to the pastor at my church?

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Of course I don't mind at all. I plan on putting them up a week at a time for the month but if you would like the whole month sooner than that I can e-mail it to you if you like.

[frimfram.livejournal.com]

This is a really nice idea. Living alone in a not-excessively-palatial room I'd come up with pretty stingy donations, so I'll just give some non-means-tested money to charity :)

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

With all your student loans perhaps we should all be donating to YOU! Mind you, even living solo in less than palatial surroundings the shoes can mount up - and then there is one day when you give money for every phone call or letter received during a day. If it included e-mails I'd probably have to take out a second mortgage! If I count the junk mail that day it'll be a reasonable amount, for sure!

[zanthinegirl.livejournal.com]

What a great idea! I'm going to participate, and I'll give the money to World Vision (http://www.worldvision.org/worldvision/comms2.nsf/stable/whoweare?Open&lid=whoweare&lpos=leftnav)

Saturday could get expensive though-- yikes!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

World Vision are excellent - definitely a way to count your blessings!

[appomattoxco.livejournal.com]

If I didn't own four bibles{changed pastors & bible versions a few times} I wouldn't have passed the fifty cent mark. When you get to my real blessings [my family & friends]I'll go broke.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

It does say 'in your house' for a lot of them - you don't have to count the ones next door or down the street - good thing!

Seriously, I worked out out whole month roughly, and it will be about £5-6, but it is an interesting exercise, as we sit down after dinner each night and say - 'which blessings are we counting today?'

[jerusha]

That is a really neat idea. I like that sort of Lenten exercise.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

We started a week late - so we don't finish on Easter weekend, but the weekend after! It is very neat though.

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

This is a really clever idea!!

It's going to be an expensive day today - S2C attended 9 schools between the ages of 5 and 17! So today our blessings are worth 45p.

Heh. I went to five different schools in 1st grade alone!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Hee hee! It would have been a major donation day for you as well then!

[spikereader.livejournal.com]

Oh, I like this. The girls will enjoy doing it, I can get them thinking about the blessings, running around doing the counting, and then they can decide where they would like to donate the money.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

It is nice isn't it? A really good way to appreciate what you have - we're enjoying doing it.

[cbtreks.livejournal.com]

Thank you for posting this. I've been so dissatisfied with our ridiculously little apartment lately - it's a good reminder that what is "ridiculously little" to me is better than many people will ever live in.

I believe I have three Bibles at home. If I were counting the ones in storage with my other books, it would raise Friday's amount considerably!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I feel the same about our house - I have friends with large and luxurious houses, by comparison, and think 'I wish we had a big house', and then I start counting the light switches, and realise how lucky we are!