Online banking? I'm into it.
Online shopping? Awesome.
Online pizza ordering? Is there any other way?
I love the simplicity - and let's face it: paying your phone bill online is far more convenient than calling it in or taking it to the bank.
If there is an option to complete a task online or in some other digital fashion, I'm into it.
For the most part. There is one noteworthy exception.
Despite several electronic giving options at my church - text, online and debit - I still seal cash into an envelope each week to put in the plate.
Last year was my first full year of regular tithing.
As an active volunteer in children's ministry - both on Sunday and during midweek programming - I know all about the great work that happens at my church. I believe in what we're doing in our community. Yet, for months I found myself completely unprepared - and increasingly convicted - every time the plate was passed around Sunday morning.
I finally requested a box of envelopes. I've been using them ever since.
Why envelopes over the other, more convenient options, though? For me, it comes down to intention.
Using an envelope means every week, I have to go to the bank. At the bank, I have to make a decision about how much cash I will withdraw. Once that cash is withdrawn, I have to decide how much of that cash I will put in the envelope. Then, I have to take that envelope, put it in my purse, and bring it with me on Sunday morning to put in the plate.
In other words, using a tithing envelope requires me to be intentional about giving. From deciding to give to physically going to gather the material to do so, each step requires me to take action.
Why does this matter?
Because being an intentional giver is important to me, especially when it comes to money. It's important to me because that attitude has not always been one that comes easily, particularly during times when money was tight.
It was a source of serious anxiety and while I still fret occasionally, my mindset on money has changed - and I think a great deal of that shift comes from seeking God's wisdom and making intentional decisions based on that wisdom to steward our money well.
I am still not perfect when it comes to not worrying about finances, but I am working on it. I am learning to trust God more and be confident he will supply us with everything we need to meet our needs. Choosing to trust takes work, but the free feeling that comes from living with an open hand is worth it.
Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? and which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothes you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'what shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Matthew 6:25-34
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