When was the last time you gave yourself a gift? A thank you note from our daughter for her birthday present was the incentive for tackling this topic. Our daughter Kelley is a very thoughtful, concerned woman whose most frequent request for a birthday gift is a check to one of her favorite non-profits. But this year, perhaps because it has been such a busy, intense year for her with a new job   [Read More …]

Frustrating, isn’t it. The rich get richer while the poor get poorer, and there doesn’t seem to be a thing we can do about it. Or is there? Do you know how to eat an elephant? And, no, I’m not changing the subject. As strange as that may seem, it isn’t an irrelevant question. You’ve got to tackle a big task bite by bite, or to put it another way, one small slice at a time. So the question is,   [Read More …]

At our house Thanksgiving means more than turkey and pumpkin pie, though we like good food a lot too. Because sharing our blessings is an important part of our lives, we have made this into an occasion to help our family discover the joy of giving. We began this practice several years ago when our grandsons were in junior high and high school, and we included their parents in the ritual so all   [Read More …]

Many years ago I was really impressed with myself when I won two writing contests. “Now,” I told my image in the mirror, “you can honestly call yourself a writer. You can make money. Maybe you’ll even get rich!” At the same time, I was earnestly praying for direction in my life. “Lord,” I asked over and over again, “what is it You want me to do?” I was willing to take on almost any God-given   [Read More …]

Are you rich without knowing it? If that question leaves you thinking I must be crazy, let me assure you that there was a time when I thought the same thing. How could I possibly be rich when my checkbook was emptier than my gas tank and I still had bills to pay? Fast forward a few years to a Sunday morning early service at our church when there were about 350 people in attendance. That   [Read More …]

How much is enough?  "What kind of question is that?" we might respond. “You can never have enough.” There’s never enough money to cover every potential financial disaster. There’s never enough stuff to make us feel loved and whole. “The notion that we will never have enough is part of the dysfunctional story of modern technological, capitalist society that we have internalized,” said   [Read More …]

It didn’t matter how many times I ran the numbers, it just didn’t pencil out. There was no way we could sell our commercial building and make a good profit on it.   Why not? Well, this story will make more sense if I begin at the beginning. When my husband Dave was a graduate student he built his own research equipment to save money. As a college professor he used some of that equipment in his   [Read More …]

How can one make a large charitable donation in such a way that it brings about the most good? For several years I worked for a national non-profit in a position that allowed me to see how local chapters used large windfall donations. While some were good stewards of their unexpected funds and used them wisely to serve a greater number of families in need, others did not. I began to wonder how   [Read More …]

We all have our passions. Thank God for that. The embers of social change smolder, kindled by such passion. Periodically the embers explode, spreading like wildfire, fueled by that same passion. What is our passion, our most important task? How would you answer that question? Bringing economics home  I would say that task is to once again nestle our economic system within Earth’s cycles,   [Read More …]

Mollie Glover didn’t get any presents for her 10th and 11th birthdays and she didn’t want any. That’s because she asked her mom and the friends who come to her parties to help her raise $250 a year to send a Guatemalan student to junior high school instead. Kimberley is Mollie’s student, the one she committed to support for 3 years so Kimberley would have a better chance to escape a life of   [Read More …]