What are your family traditions at holiday time?
Thanksgiving dinner alternates between my parents hosting and my aunt and uncle hosting at their home, just an hour away. With as many family members and friends as can make it each year, we gather to eat generous helpings of the traditional foods, made from recipes passed down for generations and from new recipes that accommodate some of our crazy food issues.
Yesterday afternoon, after we had worn her out with the food and family festivities, a family member in her early eighties, widowed about a year and a half ago, was calling it a day. As I gave her a hug and wished her a blessed evening, she took a moment to sincerely thank me, and all of us, for being there together. She said, “These traditions are important: being all together like this. They are part of what make us family. Thank you for being here.”
I was humbled by her generous and heartfelt thanks, knowing that there was nowhere else I would rather be. And then I got thinking about her choice of the word “traditions.”
What traditions do you have? In life? For the holidays? As a family?
What that family member was highlighting through her thanks was three significant things:
Traditions are part of what make us who we are.
Traditions give us a sense of belonging.
And traditions are things with which we identify ourselves and others.
Today, Black Friday, many have a tradition of shopping together to get the best deals. On Monday, the tradition of increased online shopping created the term Cyber Monday.
And, in recent years, a new tradition has come about, shared by many nonprofits: Giving Tuesday. Giving Tuesday is an opportunity to give back from what we have received and increase the awareness of groups whose purpose and vision is to give and bless others year-round.
Iron Rose Sister Ministries (IRSM) strives to equip women to connect to God and one another more deeply, equipping them to equip others, to equip others, and so on. The 2x2x2 pattern of equipping is reinforced by Paul’s teaching in 2 Timothy 2:2.
“and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men (and women), who will be able to teach others also.”
Get it? 2x2x2...
This is the tradition we promote, the vision we cast, the purpose we serve.
Will you partner with us and make giving to IRSM a new tradition, multiplying our traditions, 2x2x2?
1. IRSM traditions are part of what make us who we are: The tradition of giving from what we have been given, equipping from what we have been equipped.
2. IRSM traditions give us a sense of belonging: Partnering with a ministry that equips women to truly belong to the family of Christ and be equipped to invite other women into that sense of belonging—different roses in God’s garden, in spite of the thorns.
3. IRSM traditions give us a sense of identity: We pray that you identify with our vision and help us equip women across the Americas to unite with their identity in Christ, in English, Spanish, and bilingual contexts.
Mark your calendar for this Tuesday, November 27, #Giving2x2TuesdayIRSM.
And while this one-day tradition is significant, we are looking for more partners in giving for 2019. Will you join us in maintaining our exponential growth?
Thank you and God bless you in your giving traditions.