Something to think about (by Andy)

Upon further reflection, the concept of generosity through poverty and the intertwining of generosity and gratitude has come to be, for me, an issue of legacy for my family. What sparked the deeper reflection was (of all things) VeggieTales. Micah loves to watch VeggieTales. Today he was watching "Lyle, the Kindly Viking". It's a great story about a little Viking who breaks rank from stealing and plundering to share his things with some monks. On the surface this is just a happy little story to teach your kids about sharing, right? Well, yes.

But it got me thinking anyway.

When I began to think about this in the scope of how generous we are called to be as followers of Jesus and what I've brought back with me from Nicaragua, I began to tie two things together. What I've brought back isn't just a new understanding of generosity, gratitude and poverty, but an opportunity to instill in Micah that same understanding.

VeggieTales became a teaching moment for me - not just to teach Micah, but for God to teach me. For me this can't just be about transforming how I live life or how I lead my family, but it has to be about teaching my son how to be generous. Beyond that, it has to be an opportunity that I am willing to take to help him and teach him to be better at it than I am so that his kids can be better at it than he will be. It's about leaving a family legacy of generosity. A legacy that is built on loving God and my neighbor more than I love myself. A legacy that creates stepping stones for each generation to exceed the previous through teaching moments. But those teaching moments can't be all that it includes. There have to be teaching experiences.

Teaching experiences are invaluable. The whole point of doing the Thirsty series before Christmas is so we have the opportunity to begin to transform how we view and do Christmas - and hopefully more than Christmas. Will I use this series as an opportunity to do that? Will I begin to use the experience of Micah's 3rd Christmas to propel forward and transform not only this Christmas, but his 4th? His 5th? 6th? Will my future kids not know Christmas as it will be this year because each year our generosity toward the "least of these" grows and our focus on ourselves diminishes?

Just something to think about...