How do we count our blessings
at year end?
As Certified Public Accountant and founder of MinistryCPA, I challenge us with lessons in counting our blessings at year end that I find I must revisit each December. The missions of more than 100 MinistryCPA charity clients constantly serve to re-center my thinking. Thankfully, early in my career I started a year end pattern of looking back on the past 12 months and looking forward to the next. In addition to the natural reflections you might expect, charitable giving is on my mind. It wasn’t until I was well into my 40s that my vision for giving was expanded beyond simply giving because of a sense of duty. Now I’m much more careful to check and recheck my motivations.
As Certified Public Accountant and founder of MinistryCPA, I challenge us with lessons in counting our blessings at year end that I find I must revisit each December. The missions of more than 100 MinistryCPA charity clients constantly serve to re-center my thinking. Thankfully, early in my career I started a year end pattern of looking back on the past 12 months and looking forward to the next. In addition to the natural reflections you might expect, charitable giving is on my mind. It wasn’t until I was well into my 40s that my vision for giving was expanded beyond simply giving because of a sense of duty. Now I’m much more careful to check and recheck my motivations.
1. We give because we
care about the impact of charities
Giving Tuesday, each
Tuesday after Thanksgiving in the U.S., is past. But our favorite charity is
still counting on us and others to give this December. The leaders, staff and
volunteers of the organizations that MinistryCPA people serve challenge us with
their devotion to myriad influential causes—churches, schools, youth camps,
pregnancy counseling centers, inner city ministries rebuilding broken lives,
foreign missions, counselors to ministry leaders and many others.
Surely, we care about
one or more of these or other worthy causes and those people who carry the
weight of them. Worthy people make these charitable causes work. Their
sacrificial spirits motivate us to support their just causes.
2. We give because we can
give
How do we count our
blessings at year end? Does the activity lead to action? If we truly think
about it, I believe we’ll come to the conclusion that every good thing we have
experienced in the past year was made possible by others. This includes God who
gave us the talents and opportunities we used to earn a living. Perhaps we are
learning that it is more blessed to give, than to receive. We give because we can
give.
3. We give and we gain
I’d like to think that
we give regardless of personal gain. Of course, as a CPA and tax professional,
I recognize that we Americans enjoy tax benefits for charitable contributions. As
a steward of our wealth, we are privileged to choose how and where the fruits
of our labors are invested for good.
I truly hope that you
have enjoyed financial prosperity this past year. Many of our clients have.
While we serve them in the stewardship of their family wealth, reducing income
taxes is part of it. While recent tax law changes have altered the landscape for
donors, there remains significant gains for generous taxpayers.
For strategies our
clients are using to enhance their stewardship through giving, please visit our
blog post, Insurmountable Wall for Charitable Contributions?
As you gather with your family and friends this Christmas, don’t forget the impact you can have by giving yet this year.
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