a cheerful giver

Last night, after the hot chocolate stand I overheard Rory talking to Ivar. He asked Ivar to give a bit of his earnings to Elsie, since she was helpful in sitting with him the whole hour. And then Ivar came over to me and Elsie and said, "Elsie, this is five dollars for helping me." He was a little hesitant to do it, but I complimented him for doing something because it was simply the right thing to do.

Later on Rory talked to Ivar about tithing and giving a portion of his hot chocolate money back to God. Rory read from the Bible, "Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly, for God loves a cheerful giver" and explained to Ivar that he should give whatever amount he wanted, back to God. He shared how God loves when we honor him with our gifts because God is the giver of all good gifts and loves to give to his children. He told Ivar about God's floodgates, ready to burst open and pour out blessing when we give to God. God says in the Bible, "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this and see if I will not throw open the floodgate of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it."

There was a part of me that thought this was all a bit too complex for Ivar to wrap his head around. These are some big kingdom themes for a five-year-old. But Ivar was taking it very seriously, thinking really hard about how much he wanted to give back to God. And I started to see the importance of having him wrestle with this "giving back to God" concept at a young age...because it doesn't get any easier when we get older to begin. But the blessing is there and waiting for all who give, and once you experience this truth, it actually does get easier. I want him to know this early on. It's the greatest foundational truth of money management: tithing, first fruits, cheerful giving. I could see his conflict in his head; wanting to keep it all, but also wanting to test God's promise.

I was upstairs when he landed on his number. He had earned 26 dollars, given five to Elsie and came to tell me with great joy, "I'm going to give God SIX of my dollars! And God's gonna open the floodgates!" He had come to that number on his own and was pleased and happy about his decision.

Rory got him an envelope and they put six dollars in it for the offering on Sunday. And Ivar remained joyful and excited the whole time.

Today we called my dad to tell him how the hot chocolate stand went and Ivar told him, "I gave five dollars to Elsie and gave God six dollars for a floodgate!" When I took the phone back I explained to my dad what we were trying to instill in Ivar's heart. Dad told me that when he and my mom were first married he made $3200 that entire year, working at a church. He said, "we tithed on every paycheck and somehow managed not only to pay every bill that came in, but we had money in savings at the end of the year! Try to explain that!" We talked about the mystery of tithing, how it goes against our mortal minds, but somehow this is truly how money works in the kingdom. God loves to give back to cheerful givers.

Then I told Dad how this morning I heard Ivar and Elsie talking in the bathroom, "Elsie, do you want to give your money to God too? Then you'll get your own floodgate!"