My Story – Your Story

 Article

• Author: Gary L. LANGNESS is an ELCA Pastor, stewardship leader and integral member...
• Updated: 06/29/2008
• Copyright: Gary Langness

Pastor Langness tells his own stewardship story.

Each of us has a stewardship story. For some it may be very dramatic; for others it might seem so insignificant that it's not given a thought.

I was 1 year old when my mother was left a widow with four children ages 5, 4, 3 and 1. Mother had no career, no money, no car -- only enough insurance to bury my father -- and the task of deciding what she would do next. In those days there was no social security to help out. Oft times when situations like this arose, the children were placed with relatives to raise. Mother decided to keep her family together and seek employment. She provided for her family and made a small paycheck "enough." I do not know what my siblings thought, but I never considered us poor. Other than the fact that all of the neighbors had cars and we didn't, they did not look any more affluent than us.

I am not sure when it began to dawn on me, but my mother was a giver. She was always baking or cooking something for someone else. She looked out for elderly people. She made more Christmas cookies than Sara Lee. Each Christmas she packaged many plates of cookies to be delivered to neighbors, friends, co-workers and the elderly. When missionaries came to our church, they were always invited to be guests for Sunday dinner. She corresponded with several missionaries and made a financial gift to them each year. When we were in college, we always knew we could bring other students home for a meal. It was common for one of us to call at the last minute and say, "Ma, there are three guys who can't get home for Thanksgiving, can I bring them home?" The answer was always "Yes." Some of my greatest memories are of sharing meals with missionaries and students at our dining room table.

In my home congregation there was a tradition of printing the contributions of every member of the congregation in the annual report. I can remember opening the book and looking for my mother's name. Then I fell into the "trap" of comparing what my mother gave with others. She was always one of the top givers. I can remember being proud of her. I came to realize that she was a tither. I never thought about how she could do that, she just made it happen.

Mother wanted all of her children to have a college education and she helped each of us financially. When she became financially stretched she cut corners on what she did with her own eating and shopping habits. She could have reduced her pledge to church, but instead she increased it.

She never talked a lot about her giving; she simply lived it. We as children "caught" giving from her and it is no surprise today that all of us are givers.

So, what is your story? You have one. You have learned something about giving in your life. It is important to know what our story is so that we can make a conscious decision about our giving.