12/7/12

It's About Giving

I love to give gifts.  I am the guy who buys Christmas presents and wants to give them weeks before Christmas.  I would be happy to give the presents as soon as I purchase them.  My wife says I am like a little kid when it comes to giving gifts.  I guess I am.

Though I love to give gifts, I also have come to recognize that we live in a very wasteful society.  Go into any thrift store and you will see the abundance of leftover stuff we have given and received on a regular basis. 

There are really two kinds of gifts you can give.  Gifts that are temporary and gifts that can change a life.

The temporary gifts are the ones that end up getting tossed aside when Christmas is over, or get replaced when a newer or better one comes along.  It's the "must have" item on our list that we lose interest in a few weeks later.

Then there are the gifts that change a life.

For example, one year my brother and sister-in-law gave us a Kiva gift certificate.  It allowed us to give a micro-loan ($25) to individuals around the world who are trying to grow their own businesses to provide for their families in nations where poverty abounds.  They pay the loan back over time and when it comes back, you loan it to someone else.  We've made 5 loans off of this one gift!  That's a life changing gift.

Another life changing gift are the ones you can give via Compassion.  Readers of this blog know that my wife and I are passionate about Compassion and have sponsored a child for years.  This Five Star charity has now released their annual Christmas catalog: 

Compassion Christmas Catalog

Did you know that you can protect a child from Malaria for only $18?  You can teach a mother to read for only $22!

You can also equip a family with livestock for only $280.

Their catalog is filled with life changing gifts starting for as little as $4.

I invite you to check out the Compassion catalog and change a life today!

#itsaboutgiving

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