One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty (Proverbs 11:24).

We're getting ready to go to a wedding.  We feel good, smell good, and look good (if I do say so myself).  We've got a card ready, in which we're planning to enclose some cash... But invariably, at some point, my wife and I look at each other with the question of "How much?" written in our eyes?  It's a complicated, unwritten formula that we use to calculate how much to put in with the wedding card, based on how well we know the couple, how needy they are at the moment, how needy we are at the moment, and various factors like that.  Usually, however, we're able to come up with a range.  Either a 10 or a 20.  Either a 20 or a 50.  Marci and I can usually reach an agreement on the general range pretty quickly.  But how to decide which exact amount is best?  Honestly, my natural tendency is to always go conservative and give the lower number.  Marci tends to be more generous.  With these competing tendencies, it's always a tough call... A couple of years ago, however, our family started consciously deciding to always lean in favor of generosity.  When in doubt, that is, always give the bigger bill.

Sometimes it hurts to give so freely -- especially when we're going through a tight stretch ourselves.  Yet we believe that God blesses a cheerful giver and encourages generosity in all its various forms (spiritually, materially, practically, etc.).

What's crazy is that we really do reap what we sow.  Just like it says in Proverbs 11:24 - "One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty."  You'd think it'd be the other way around.  I mean, how can you keep giving away stuff and giving away more stuff -- and then still find your supplies INcreasing?!?  It doesn't make any sense!  And yet, it's true.  It works.  Our family has seen it personally.  At one wedding, not so long ago, we felt that it was best to put a 50 into the envelope.  It was a lot of money for us, during a scarcer season of life, and yet we felt that a 50 was the right thing to do.  The generous thing to do.  We put the 50 into the envelope and brought it to the wedding and enjoyed ourselves.  Yes, there were moments where I felt anxious at the wedding reception and I second-guessed our decision, knowing some of the other bills that would need to be paid in the next week or so.  But eventually I settled on peace and satisfaction.  And incredibly, just two days later, after I had forgotten about the whole incident and was just going on with life, we received a card in the mail (addressed from a different continent) including -- you guessed it -- a crisp new 50.  Ever since then, we've continued to err on the side of generosity; and while we haven't always been automatically "reimbursed" by our omniscient God, we've always felt confident in the truth of Proverbs 11:24 - "One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds undly, but comes to poverty."