Ice Cream
Edwin Friesen
In his July 8, 2006 column in the Globe and Mail, Tim Cestnick, wrote the following:
Many years ago, a 10-year-old boy entered a coffee shop and sat down. My aunt, a waitress at the time, took his order. "How much is an ice cream sundae?” he asked. "Fifty cents,” she replied. He took some coins from his pocket and studied them. "Well, how much for a plain dish of ice cream?” he asked.
By now, more people were waiting for a table and she was growing impatient. "Thirty-five cents,” she abruptly replied. The boy again counted his coins. "I’ll have the plain ice cream,” he said. She brought the ice cream, put the bill on the table, and walked away. The boy finished the ice cream, paid the cashier and left.
When my aunt came back, she began to cry as she wiped down the table. There, placed beside the empty dish, were three nickels. You see, the little boy couldn’t have the sundae, because he wanted enough left over to leave her a tip. Now, that’s sacrificial generosity — and it was greatly appreciated.
When was the last time you curtailed your "ice cream” order so that you could be more generous to someone else? When is the last time you "squeezed” your lifestyle so that others might have more? When have you made a conscious decision not to buy something because you wanted to share more with others?
The very essence of giving is self-sacrifice. When you give something away, you have less than you had before you gave. If you give time to others, you will have less time for personal pursuits. If you give your abilities in service to others, you will have less energy to employ these same skills for your own enjoyment, and if you give money or possessions to others, you will have less to spend on your own needs and wants. That is the essence of giving.
Some people working in the charity sector dream up creative and painless ways of giving. The intent is to find ways to give that do not ‘cost’ the donor anything. Usually this involves an enhanced charitable tax credit that, in essence, leaves the donor no poorer after the gift has been made. It sounds too good to be true and it generally is.
Several years ago, Carl Juneau, a representative from the Charities Division of the Canada Revenue Agency addressed that issue in a meeting with charitable gift planners. "If making a gift has not made you poorer, you have misinterpreted CRA gifting rules,” he said. "And if such a loophole currently exists, and if CRA finds out about it, we will immediately move to close that loophole.” Clearly giving, according to CRA, must leave the donor financially poorer or it is not a gift.
Jesus understood that too. To give himself to us, Jesus had to give up his rights as God (Phil 2:5-11) and voluntarily live a life of human restrictions. As God, he could be anywhere at any time, yet he restricted himself to walking or riding a donkey. As God, he could live without bread, yet he chose to be hungry and thirsty. As God, he was the source of life, yet he gave up his own life so that we might live. "He was willing to die a shameful death on the cross because of the joy he knew would be his afterward.” (Heb 12:2) Ironically it is self-sacrifice which leads to generosity which leads to joy.
First published in 2007.