I still remember the day, some 25 years ago or so when my mom taught us the envelope system. Every time we made some money, we’d set aside 10% for tithe and giving. I don’t remember if I had a defined way to split up savings and spending money, except that I preferred the idea of saving for something special so most of my money went into that envelope. I remember just talking with her about finances and going to Scripture together as we explored what God had to say about money. Oh I felt so excited to have my VERY OWN money to drop in the offering bucket at church. Since we needed something to hold our envelopes, each of us 3 girls were allowed to select a tin pencil box. While I sort of seem girly now, I was quite the tomboy at that age and nothing would do except this sports themed tin. It saw me through several years until I finally opened a bank account and started keeping money there. And being an overly sentimental pack-rat {I can hear my friends snickering}, I realized that I still had it!
But those principles of setting aside money to spend (without guilt), give (so I wouldn’t be in a lurch at Christmas time) and tithe (because He owns the money anyways) and of course saving forever defined how I viewed my finances.
What I didn’t realize at the time is that this was on the lesson plans. It was part of our “school work.” It seemed so natural, so normal to sit and discuss finances. It was normal to open up the Bible and explore because my mom intentionally sought to bring learning into the every day instead of defining it as school.
I didn’t know any of this until a few weeks ago when I read through and planned out the activities we’d do from our KONOS lesson on Stewardship. Memories came flooding in as I realized how intentional my parents had been even though we didn’t realize it. I was filled with awe and giddy excitement that I too would get to teach these important lessons to my children. This kind of learning doesn’t feel like “school” because really it is just learning about life.
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