10% To God

My first experience for tithing came from donating to missions. Or it could have come from my dad setting me up with a budget when I was six where 10% went To God, 20% to Entertainment, 30% to Long Term, and 40% to College. Or maybe it happened simultaneously.

Don't get too impressed. I must confess that my initial response in wanting to give to missions was primarily motivated by a desire to get my hands on my very own giving envelopes. As a lover of stationery and all things writing, these envelopes were enticing fruit: pre-printed categories, a line for totaling, a line for your name, an assigned number, and, best of all, dates. One for every Sunday of the year. My undeveloped brain thought these were the glory of the modern world, and I was so excited to give 5 cents every week simply to possess these delicacies.

It was not to be. I later learned that my weekly 5 cents was probably not even enough to cover the cost of printing, so the church unknowingly taught me a lesson in delayed gratification. However, I was not deterred in my disappointment. I decided to make my own envelopes.

Every weekend, I dutifully pulled a small envelope from our hall closet--the one that smelled of rancid Pledge and had a picture with a Bible quote covering a hole. I cut it in half (I was quite green then, apparently), stapling the gashed edge to prevent any money slippage. I neatly wrote my categories for offering and proudly wrote in my 5 cents for missions. I stuck the homemade offering envelope in the front flap of my Bible, probably checking it five times to make sure it didn't disappear. Placing it in the offering plate was certainly a highlight of my week.

Eventually, as a teenager, I did get my own set of giving envelopes. I still looked forward to getting a new set each year.

By teenage years, I had progressed from give 5 cents to 10, to 25 and beyond. And as the years have flown by, I have also progressed in my understanding of tithing and supporting missions as a move of obedience and relationship.

Even if it all started with a fetish for "cool" stationery.