New Life Daily

24 years ago, when we found out we were expecting our first son, Micah, Stan and I wrote a list of things we wanted to prioritize as we parented him. Things like teaching him to love Jesus, enjoy travel, live adventurously, be a gentleman, and fight for justice. After we wrote the list, we went back and wrote down practical things we could do to help him develop in each of those areas. 

People at the church where Stan worked kept telling us we would have to stop doing the adventurous things we loved doing after Micah was born. But a love of adventure was something we hoped to instill in him. Instead of stopping our adventures, we bought all-terrain strollers, tiny skis, baby backpacks, little life jackets, toddler climbing harnesses, and any other equipment we needed to safely bring him along. I learned to ski backward so I could ski in front of him. Stan hiked with baby Micah on his back and kayaked with him between his knees. 

He watched us do those things. He saw the joy it brought us.  He did it alongside us, with our help, until he could do it on his own.

Fast forward several years…

Today, Micah is using his degree in Recreational Therapy as an adaptive ski instructor on the slopes of Crested Butte, Colorado. Our intentionality in raising him to adventure developed into him loving adventure and making it possible for people who otherwise might not be able to live a more adventurous life.

What does that have to do with generosity? 

Well, it's like that with generosity, too, isn't it? If we want generous kids, we have a better chance of it happening if we are intentional about modeling it and teaching it. 

We start when they are very little by letting them see us being generous and showing them the joy it brings us and others. We let them see us give our coat to the person on the street who is cold. We fill a shoebox for Operation Christmas Child with them and show them videos of children receiving the boxes. We fill Harvest Thanksgiving bags when we shop. We volunteer together at a shelter.

We do all the little things…with joy…and we let them see it. And we encourage their participation in those things, at their level.

We encourage them to give their change to the Salvation Army bell ringer. We fill an extra Harvest Thanksgiving bag by not eating out after their game one week and using the money we save. We challenge them to share their toys joyfully with visitors. We ask our family to go with less at Christmas in order to buy a chicken for someone overseas who needs it instead (yep, this is a real thing.) We give them a jar to keep all their loose change through the year so they will be ready to give it to our missionary at VBS. We help them make bags with granola bars and toothpaste in them to hand to homeless people on the street. We take a trip to give coats to people at Wheeler Mission. We go on mission trips together.

There are so many ways to be generous together. 

I can guarantee you that if we had strapped two-year-old Micah to skis and sent him down the mountain without us, we would not have ended up with a child who loved to ski. Instead, we skied with him. He saw how much we loved to do it. We did it alongside him...and before we knew it, he was skiing on his own. Not only is he skiing on his own these days, but you can bet he beats us down the mountain and goes places on skis that his parents don’t dare go. He has far surpassed my skiing skills. He now teaches me. 

So as you head into this busy Christmas season, keep generosity in mind. There are all kinds of ways to be generous at Venture, in our community, and around the globe. Look for ways to give to others, share with others, help others out…and sometimes do it while your kids are watching. They see you….they know. I can’t help but think of the Christmas song that says, “He sees you when you’re sleeping. He knows when you're awake. He knows if you've been bad or good so be good for goodness sake.” (Side note: that is the creepiest song of all the Christmas songs.) Change those lyrics a bit, though, and it’s a good thought. They see you when you're sleeping. They know when you're awake. They know if you’ve been generous or selfish, so be generous for goodness sake.

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Dawn Killebrew

Dawn and her husband, Stan (lead pastor), have been at Venture since 2019. She has spent the last 23 years raising five kids. She is involved in Venture's Women's Ministry, co-leading our IF:Venture women's conference each year. Favorite Movie: "Dan in Real Life".  Favorite Superpower: teleportation.  Favorite Food: hot ham & cheese.  Hobbies: pottery, watercolor, traveling, spending time with my family and friends.  Useless skill:  I’m an excellent shot with a rubber band.