I’ve been thinking lately (always a dangerous thing!) about random acts of kindness. I know you remember several years ago being urged to commit these, and maybe someone has shown random kindness to you. Summer before last, when Lisa and I were heading across the Mackinac Bridge in Michigan, we got to the toll booth, and the lady waved us on. She told us that the car ahead had paid for us! To this day we have no idea who it was or why they chose to do it—it was truly a random act of kindness. I was so surprised by it that I didn’t think to pass it on to the person behind me, but if it ever happens again, that’s what I’d like to do. Of course, if I had done it, and the person saw in their rear-view mirror that I was paying anyway, it would probably have wrecked it for them, thinking the toll booth person was cheating or something.
Well, I do really like the idea of random acts of kindness, especially to needy folks. But that’s just the problem—I tend to like the idea, but I don’t put any mechanism in place for actually doing them. I know, they’re supposed to be random, but some of us are so structured that we have to plan our randomness!
So I’ve been thinking of establishing a budget for random kindness. Totally wrongheaded, I’m sure, but hear me out. I’m thinking maybe one percent of what I spend in a month—and, trust me, I know what I spend in a month! Our budget is all on a spreadsheet, and I have all kinds of formulas plugged in so that I know what’s going on at all times. Call it my mathematical bent, call it OCD, whatever, I’ve done this for years.
If I decide to spend on others 1% of what Lisa and I spend monthly, that’ll give me a budget for kindness. Next step—make sure I spend that budget! It might be kind of a reverse budget—instead of telling me the maximum to spend, this would be the minimum. If I don’t spend it in a month, I’ll have to spend more the next month!
Obviously, the first step is to actually have 1% more money than we spend, and by God’s grace we do. The second step is to make sure that our 10% tithe to the church is funded before we start on anything else, and it’s more than funded (with our Faithfully Forward Campaign in place, Lisa and I are giving Trinity several points more than 10% of our income).
Then comes the actual giving, and this is the part that will be a challenge. I don’t intend to delegate this giving, that is, I don’t intend to give it to someone who will then spend it to help others. We already do a lot of that, too, giving to organized charities. No, this money, I’m thinking, would be for actually placing the money or something bought with it into the hands of a needy person.
The easy way would just be to tip generously. Imagine instead of leaving a 20% tip, leaving a $50 bill! Those of you who listen to Dave Ramsey have already heard this suggestion. It’s not only easy, but most servers in most restaurants are living pretty close to the edge. 1% of my monthly expenses might be 10% of theirs, or just enough to buy gas to get to work for the week, or buy groceries in a bad week, or whatever.
But I don’t want to just take the easy way out. There might be some months when the generous tip would be the right thing, but not always. I also want to think about those times when a homeless person really needs a bus pass, or a meal. You know that I urge people not to give cash, and in many cases it just goes to drugs or alcohol, but there might occasionally be a time when cash is right. More often a meal or a bus pass is the thing to do, though those take more time to work out.
What started me on this idea was something I heard on the radio about a “giving club.” A group of people got together and their “dues” were $10 per month. One of the group was handed the money, and had to give it away. I like that, I like the community aspect of it, but in a setting like that, depending on the size of the group, each person might only have to do the actual giving once a year or so. That’s what started me thinking about just setting my own dues and doing my own giving.
I would love your thoughts about this idea, and am very open to forming some kind of giving community, even if it’s only online, to talk about it. The key thought, in my mind, is that the giving is pretty random, but the amount is strictly adhered to.
What do you think? Lisa and I are giving this a try. I’ve already “used our budget” for November and December to furnish gas money so someone could get their child to school, so we’re already thinking about January! So far it’s a lot of fun!
-Pastor Moore
Share
Recent Comments