WHAT DO OUR STORIES HAVE TO DO WITH OUR WHY?

        I am continuing to read the Catholic Church’s Stewardship Letter, and am at the section titled “Promoting Gifts of Time, Talent and Treasure: Seven Steps to Success.”

        The first step is “Personal Witness.” It states “the most important ingredient in any effort to encourage giving of time, talent and treasure is the personal witness of individuals (clergy, religious, and lay) who have experienced a change of heart as a result of their commitment to stewardship.”[1]

        This is so, so important. I mean, we can read the “official” documentation and hear a statement from an “expert”, but let’s be honest, doesn’t hearing a testimony by someone we know, someone who has traveled the same path we have make us sit up and listen a little more carefully?

        When my husband and I have considered whether to donate to a cause, or an organization, or church, or another not-for-profit, whichever it is, while we are generally generous, there is a lot more motivation when (1) we hear the story of how our gifts will make a difference; (2) we see someone’s life changed; and (3) someone who has come before us or is walking along side us tells of how they are motivated to be generated for this exact moment.

        Of course, none of us are at the exact same point on the exact same pathway. For that to happen, we have to be wearing the exact same pair of shoes (at the same time)! Some are walking side-by-side with us, some are up ahead leading the way but still in eyesight; others are so far ahead we can’t see them anymore; and some are behind us, maybe coming close up behind us and maybe lagging behind.

        It’s impossible for us to be the same person and for our situation to match someone else’s, but our situation, our story is important for others. Not to brag, but to share. Not to say I gave this amount of money, aren’t a wonderful; but to share our WHY.

        Sharing our WHY shares our hearts, our good and our bad, our positive and our negative, how God is shaping us and sharing our hearts, our motivations and our actions.

        Share those stories!

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[1] The 1992 pastoral letter, Stewardship: A Disciple’s Response, by U.S. Catholic Bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee on Stewardship.