Weblog

So, it's 4:15 AM. What am I doing awake at this hour? I'm typing in information for every single person who volunteered to take part in the Caf Fast. Essentially, these people are choosing not to eat a certain meal and are having the money from their meal be put aside into our budget for the campus Acting on AIDS chapter. We're then taking that money and funnelling it towards the Lighthouse Children's Shelter in Rustinburg, South Africa. I just finished entering them all in, but, instead of going to bed, I'm still up because I decided to write something here.

This wasn't the only fundraiser that we've done recently. Last week, we held a concert at one of the professors' houses. As I was counting up the money that we had earned from the concert, most of it was in bills, but I was slightly annoyed by the presence of three pennies in the bottom of the basket. I made a comment that it seemed to me that some moron decided to put three cents in to ruin the system. Now, I wish that I had kept my mouth shut.

I was quickly reminded by someone else about the time in the New Testament where the poor widow came to the temple and placed a few pennies among the offering while others put large amounts of loose money in. Observing the situation, Jesus saw the widow and told His disciples that the poor widow had put in more than all of the rich people combined: the rich gave of their wealth, but the widow gave in her state of poverty.¹

I have to confess that with the recent fundraising, my focus has been on getting as much money as we possibly can. I recently quoted Mother Teresa here on my weblog: “It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing. It is not how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving.” That really hit home with me this past week. These fundraisers shouldn't be about how much money we make; they should be an opportunity to love others as Jesus commanded us to, but it seems that somewhere between the wardrobe and the lamppost, I lost sight of that. I opened my mouth and said what I shouldn't have said, but I'm more upset with the fact that I was thinking that in the first place.

1. Mark 12:41-44, Luke 21:1-4