This year my husband and I “purchased” a charitable gift annuity from the American Friends Service Committee with a significant portion of our assets. I call it a purchase, because we will receive a quarterly payment and they will manage and invest the funds, so we are getting something in return— even though the funds we used will stay with AFSC after we die. There are different names [Read More …]
More than enough: Cultivating a ‘mindset of abundance’
This past January, I enrolled in Faith and Money Network’s online study group, “Money, Faith and You.’ Each week we had homework, and for the second week, we were asked to write a money autobiography. I have used money autobiographies in my work at Everence (a faith-based financial services organization) so I was very familiar with the concept. A money autobiography invites you to think back to [Read More …]
Are you a generous person?
Are you a generous person? In my work with people, I am often asked questions by people who want to gauge their own generosity. These are usually indirect queries like, “what are other people giving?” or “what percentage of income is the average amount?” rather than “Am I a stingy or profligate person?” This is a natural inclination to fulfill what is expected; to not give too little nor too much [Read More …]
Trusting into deeper generosity — reflecting on a lifetime of lessons
Way back in the early 1990s I attended what was called a “Basic Retreat” with the then-named Ministry of Money, now Faith and Money Network. I was newly single with three young kids and truly questioning my values around money. I had more money than most of my divorced friends who also were raising kids, and I felt a bit guilty. I wanted to be generous without being foolhardy. “How much [Read More …]
Loaves, fishes and the work of building a world where everyone has enough
Most of us, whether we are conscious of it or not, operate somewhere on the continuum between an assumption of abundance and an assumption of scarcity. An assumption of abundance is a way of living with a healthy amount of trust that everything we truly need to become the people we were created to be will somehow be given. It’s a way of living with trust that everything that happens to us [Read More …]
Should I rent or buy? How my online study group helped me decide
I took Faith and Money Network’s online Money, Faith and You course because I was at a threshold. I knew I needed help thinking about my finances. I was a divorced woman, starting a second career mid-life after a significant illness. I had been struggling for more than 10 years on my own. I needed a sounding board in my discernment about a new job and moving. The invitation from [Read More …]
Introducing Network Voices
Welcome to Network Voices, a new blog from Faith and Money Network, which will feature reflections, commentary and news from members and friends of this virtual, and growing, community. In this space, you’ll read the real life stories of people who are thinking deeply about the connections between faith and money. We’ll highlight the experiences of participants in our online classes and Trips [Read More …]
Trip of Perspective: Our Appalachia, Electric Power, and My Personal Power
We broke bread with our Appalachian brothers and sisters, who fed us like cherished relatives from out of town. We bore witness to their struggle and pain, and they, in turn, shared their palpable sense of relief because of it. I had two dreams the night after Mike Little, our Faith and Money Network Executive Director, asked me if I'd write an article about our recent trip of perspective [Read More …]
Surface Mining and Peach Cobbler: A Trip of Perspective to Central Appalachia
The concerned citizens of the organization Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards bring passion, energy, and joy to their work as they fight to save their beloved mountain range and local biodiversity from surface mining. Our two-and-a-half day immersion in the lives of those living in small towns and hollows in southwestern Virginia bore a shocking resemblance to experiences some of us [Read More …]
Save Our Mountains from Mountaintop Coal Mining
Many folks are fighting back no matter what the cost. And they will keep on going even if they think they've lost. And though they don't get much support they are becoming strong. They understand their course is right. This is where they belong. There is a place called Appalachia, painted emerald green With misty mountains, towering trees, a peaceful, prayerful [Read More …]