Me and My Money: 2040 Love

“When you help someone out ... do it quietly and unobtrusively.”  Matthew 6:3

Sounds like a tennis umpire with dyscalculia. It’s actually my personal formula for alms-giving. Take a $20, $50, and $100 bill, fold them up into quarters, and stash them in your wallet. Then, during the month, watch and listen. Wait to see what person or couple or family the Lord wants you to give the money to.

It could be $50 to that always-so-kind waitress; the one who is too old to still have that entry-level job, so you know she’s struggling in some way. Maybe the $20 goes to buy smokes for that guy you saw hanging outside during a break at AFM. The $100, that’s a sweet bill, it belongs to that young family on your street; the one that had their place broken into.

Shell out the bills for one month and you’ve given away $170. Do that each month for a year and you’re at “2040 Love.”

I’m an old man and back in the day, in my Christian community, we had this concept that incorporated tithing plus gifts. Everybody pretty much knows the tithe part: the ten percent that you give directly to your church or spiritual community. For me, “2040 Love” is the “gift” part and it’s way more fun than tithing.

I’ve been doing it for years now and my focus has always been the same. I have an affinity towards the “working poor,” the people who are putting in the effort but aren’t getting the easy breaks. Or beautifully-spirited people who’ve been blind-sided by something terribly unpleasant or hard to live with.

There’s a snag though. You can only ever offer the money, and you should never do it until your soul is ready. You’ve got to face your own self-righteousness, dump it, and let the Spirit have you. Only then can you be one beggar helping out another beggar. Remember, the real gift is the love you offer; the other stuff is only filthy lucre.