A Cheerful Giver

Paul encouraged the Corinthians with these words, “Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7). He wanted them to help others by giving of what they had. The Come, Follow Me manual comments, “In our day, there are still Saints throughout the world who are in need of help. Sometimes the most we can do for them is to fast and donate fast offerings. In other cases, our giving can be more direct and personal. Whatever forms our sacrifices take, it’s worth examining our motivations for giving. Are our sacrifices expressions of love? After all, it’s love that makes a giver cheerful.” To the Lord the size of our donations to help others is not what matters most; it is the heart with which we give and the love that we share that is most important. That was surely part of the message the Lord taught when He pointed out the widow who gave two mites, and it is what Mother Teresa emphasized when she said, “We can do no great things, only small things with great love.” I think that’s what Paul was encouraging, to cheerfully give to others with great love even if what we give may not be great.

               When I was about 14 years old, I had the opportunity to go to Washington D.C. for a school-related event with my parents and brother. I remember that on that trip we were taking the subway once and as we exited a lady was there asking for money. I wanted to give something small to her and pulled out my wallet in front of her. If I remember correctly the lowest bill I had was $10 and so I gave that to her, wishing I had something smaller to offer but figuring I couldn’t give nothing at that point. She was thrilled and gave me a big thanks. I do not recall exactly what my feelings or motivations were at the time, but I think that often with our giving we also want to give a little without having to give too much. And perhaps where that is most obvious is in the gift of our time, the commodity that is sometimes the hardest to give up. But I think in that Paul would also tell us that we should be a cheerful giver, even if the time we are asked to give up to help someone or serve is a lot more than the little we would prefer.

In the many talks from our stake conference that I listened too this weekend, the one that stands out the most went something like this: A man was selling a kitchen table, and someone called asking to buy it for someone else. The problem was that they had no vehicle to get it themselves, and so the man grudgingly went to deliver it with his trailer. He had to help carry it up many flights of stairs to an apartment of a family from Venezuala who were refugees here in Utah. They had been separated for many years in various countries and this would be the first time they could gather together at the same table in a long time. The brother recounting the story spoke of how grateful they were to receive it, and soon he found himself going home to get beds from his house for them since they had none. He returned, took those up the many stairs, and then helped set them up for this family in great need. The family was filled with gratitude for the generous acts, but the brother commented how his first reaction at the end of the day was, “Well, I got nothing done today that was on my list to do.” But then realizing what he was thinking, he said to himself, “You fool!” Though he had not done what he had planned on, he had given of his time in a way that blessed others like no other action he might have done could have. As we give up our time to help and serve others we may not mark off everything on our personal To Do lists, but if we do not do it grudgingly we can indeed find “that joy which none receiveth save it be the truly penitent and humble seeker of happiness” (Alma 27:18).