Thoughts about giving

What lessons can we all learn from Warren Buffet’s $37-billion gift to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation?

Such a gift from the world’s second-richest man to the world’s richest man’s foundation follows Jesus’ advice and counsel that each of us must do all we are able to help others; see, for example, Luke 12:48b. “From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required.”

Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates understand Matthew 13:12 and Mark 4:24-25. “Give and it will be given to you.”

This contribution designated to seeking cures for the world’s worst diseases and to improve American education is an offering to God.

Giving is a strange combination of attitude and effort, a painful stretching of oneself that leads to joy. I preach, “Give till you feel joy!” This gift seems to have brought great joy to those directly involved; last Monday the Associated Press reported: “The Buffett and Gates families, as well as onlookers, were beaming as the so-called ‘Oracle of Omaha’ officially made his benevolence a reality.

“ ‘There is more than one way to get to heaven, but this is a great way,’ said Buffett.”

Although Warren Buffett, like all of us, best take good care before God’s throne of grace, his gift will surely bring joy to those for whom it helps to bring health and learning.

This gift is significantly exemplary and encourages each of us to do all we are able to help others.

(THE VERY REV’D CANON)

PETER D. HAYNES

Saint Michael & All Angels

Episcopal Church

Corona del Mar

A young boy is given two quarters, one with which to purchase candy, the other to give to charity. (That a candy bar could cost a quarter indicates how old this story is!) Along his way he stumbles, and one of the quarters falls from his hand and rolls down a drain. The boy turns his eyes Heavenward and says,: “Well, God, there goes your quarter.”

Giving is about priorities. For some, dollars given are dollars lost or wasted. They could have been better lavished on our lifestyle. For others, that which one has given is the key to true riches and wealth.

A biographer of Lord Rothschild asked him what he was worth. Rothschild presented a ledger detailing his charitable contributions. The biographer protested that the wrong ledger had been handed him.

Rothschild answered: “You asked me what I am worth. What makes me worthy? What I have in my accounts can be lost at any time. What can never be taken from me is what I have given to others.”

Here was a man who had his priorities in order!

Our priority must be God’s expectation of us to turn with generosity to those created in his image. This expectation is based on the fact that we own nothing, that everything belongs to God and is on loan to us to be used for his purposes.

Everything was here before our appearance, and everything will survive our disappearance. We are but stewards of a temporary, sacred trust. We are duty bound to use well and wisely that which belongs to God, to be partners with him in spreading the bounty of this world. That is why the earliest legislation of the Bible contains special provisions for the helpless, vulnerable, marginalized and downtrodden and calls for the amelioration of their lot. The Bible urges liberality toward the poor.

Not “live and let live,” but “live and help live” is Scripture’s credo.

Two would-be philosophers were debating a weighty subject: How does one grow, from the feet up or from the head down?

The first said: “From the feet up, of course. Last year I bought my son a new suit for his Bar Mitzvah ceremony, and at the time the pants were just the right length.

“Now, the pants just reach the ankles. That proves that people grow from the feet up.”

“Fool,” retorted his interlocutor. “It is obvious that people grow from the head down. If you see a group of soldiers marching, all their feet are on the same level. But if you look at their heads you will see they are at different heights. That proves people grow from the head up.”

Both philosophers were mistaken. A rabbi has written that we grow neither from the bottom up nor from the top down. We grow from the inside out. A true measure of our growth is going out to others.

When God measures us, he puts the tape around the heart.

RABBI MARK S. MILLER

Temple Bat Yahm

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