Learning to acknowledge God’s blessings is the beginning step of faithful management of His gifts.
Greg and Mike were meeting for lunch. Greg was dreading this meeting because he was used to Mike always complaining about how hard his life is. On this particular day, Greg was surprised. Mike was telling the story of how he and his wife had recently decided that they should get their estate plan in place. The process began as Mike and his wife met with their Gift Planning Counselor. Mike was not really a money guy. He was not the guy who could quickly offer up an estimate of the total net worth of his estate. So, when their Gift Planning Counselor asked the couple to fill out a Lifetime Plan for Giving survey, which included many things, but especially an inventory of financial assets, Mike was shocked to see the actual dollar value of his estate.
Mike said to Greg, “All my life I have been comparing myself to others, always believing that everyone else is more blessed than I. I am not a billionaire, but I was actually quite overwhelmed to see the combined value of our house, our cottage, our paid-up life insurance and our retirement accounts. I usually just look at things one at a time. Combined together, I realize that I have been underestimating what God has been doing in our lives. Now I am asking the question, ‘I wonder what God wants us to do with all of this?’ I have this feeling that it includes more than just inheritance to the kids, as they are all doing quite well.”
Greg responded, “Mike this is awesome. With your new-found perspective, I think your estate planning is going to be a lot of fun. Are you thinking about leaving a gift to ministry?”
Mike responded, “I sure am. Every time I see the kids from our Lutheran School in worship, I am so glad they are learning about Jesus. I want to help provide scholarships so more kids can come in the future.”
Are you recognizing God’s abundance? Our First Trinity Gift Planning Counselors can help.
Linda Gage
Linda is a daughter of First Trinity and has served in leadership and development positions with the LCMS for twenty nine years and is a certified Christian Development Executive. She brings joy, enthusiasm, technical skills and experience to assist you in creating or updating your plan. Linda resides in western New York with her husband, Don, on their 75 acre fruit farm of vineyards and orchards.
Ron Grimm
Ron holds a bachelors degree and an advanced degree, both in architectural studies. Ron is active in his church, bringing experience gained there over the years as congregational president, board member, stewardship advocate and ministry program leader to this gift planning position.
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