The flexibility of the summer months provides us with much-needed moments to rest, relax, and have a bit more fun. It’s important to embrace these moments as participating in joyful activities can inspire confidence in God’s care and help us discover happiness in His company. These moments are the perfect opportunity to incorporate generosity into engaging activities you can enjoy with your family and friends. Below are a few ways you can enjoy generous rest and play this summer:
1. Generosity Caper—As a group, prayerfully pick someone from your church or community to bless with an unexpected gift. Maybe it’s a spa day or a meal. Maybe it’s paying off someone’s debt or funding a special program or project at a local ministry. Whatever you choose, keep it a secret. Giving the gift anonymously highlights God as the provider and greatest giver.
2. Day of Service—Coordinate with a local ministry or your church to give a day of your time. Then work to meet a need or complete a special project for the church or organization. Be creative! You may find yourself organizing a busy young mom’s home, cleaning a garden or courtyard space, making and delivering meals, or something different.
3. Discover Family Values—Invite your spouse to discuss values. Then do an exercise with the mindset of family values. Remember, there aren’t good values or bad values; values are guidelines for how you want to live. If you need a resource for this, contact info@womendoingwell.org
4. Planning Retreat—Take a night away for intentional conversation, prayer, reflection, and planning to move forward in your giving.
5. Sponsor a Child—Sponsor children the same age as the children in your life. Encourage your children to be generous with their words and prayers in the regular correspondence.
6. Make a Word Cloud—Generosity is more than just giving money. We can be generous with our time, our words, our ears, and our attitudes. Take time to brainstorm with your kids and put together a word cloud listing all the ways they can be generous. Put it on display and refer to it regularly as a way to encourage wholehearted generosity
7. $2 Tuesdays—Go to the bank and get $100 worth of $2 bills. Each week, give each child a $2 bill to give to someone unexpected every Tuesday. Prepare for lots of fun reactions!
8. Give Them Generosity—Give teens $20 and challenge them to listen to God’s prompting. Encourage them to give it away spontaneously and then report back to you.
9. Do Vacations Differently—Plan your family vacation to be on a mission with your giving goals. You could be part of a medical mission trip, meet a child your family sponsors, or see firsthand the work of an organization you support.
10. Intentional Dinner—Invite your family to dinner and ask, what’s one area of society that you’d like to impact for good? Where have you been involved that you feel you are making a difference? Then ask how you can support them in their efforts.