The Joy of Giving

Some of you may know, but this spring I've taken part in the Dave Ramsey class called Financial Peace University, a series of 10 lessons on video and guided discussion times. I took the class back in college, but living on loans at the time, I wasn't able to apply what I was learning very well. Since getting a full-time job last year, I've realized my need for some re-teaching and accountability with the other classmates that attend. Thus I enrolled.

First of all, if you don't know anything about Dave Ramsey, you should know this: He loves Jesus. All of his advice and teaching comes from a foundational knowledge that our money is not actually ours, but God's. He has also been in the financial arena for about 30 years, so he knows what he's talking about. AND he's super funny. These aren't boring, blah blah complicated videos, they're HILARIOUS. You will be entertained and enlightened!

Enough about Dave. So, I recently realized that I was using the "extra" money at the end of my bills for things like gifts, clothes, random stuff, etc. and I should really just make a category for that in my budget so I'm not going overboard in any one direction. I get paid every 2 weeks, so this past paycheck had "gifts" on it, which was great because my niece Austen is turning 3 in a couple weeks. When I asked my brother what she wanted, he texted, "Disney princesses." So I headed to Target with my $25 cash in hand (instead of swiping a card - there's more pain and knowledge involved in using cash).

I cannot express to you how much fun it was shopping for her gift! It's almost like someone had handed me the $25 and said, "Go!" It felt like I wasn't spending my money, but someone else's! And I really was - it was the money God had entrusted to me. Really, God is the owner, and we're just the asset managers. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!!

Our last week of FPU was Thursday night, and it was the most important lesson: on giving. Dave's point was that you can do all the steps, follow all of his advice, but unless you GIVE, you're missing the point of life. And giving can be so much fun! Not only does it give us a taste of how joyful it is for God to give us good gifts, but we get to bless others! My goal in life is to be monetarily rich ONLY so I can give it away. I can't wait. :)