May 2, 2010: May the Swartz be with You

I was checking my financial newsletter today after a rousing sermon that God lives outside of ‘time’.  It’s just us in relativity that see things one moment at a time.  Past, is what just happened,  future is the next unmanifested moment, but we just live in the present.

It was interesting to follow the links at the end of the newsletter for charities.  I had been doing research on the Grameen bank of Bangladesh giving microloans to women!  It seems there is another organization called KIVA loans where I can invest $25 to a chosen project to help someone in the third world get their business off the ground.  I am really impressed how so little can go so far.  In KIVA investors can get their profits back into their paypal accounts, but they can also reinvest.  It’s like paying it forward.

Another of my favorite charities is Heifer International.  This is where you donate towards a cow or goat or lamb or a flock of geese to a family.  I read the testimonies of recipients whose families were hungry or displaced or refugees.  Not only did the pig or cow help their family get out of poverty, they were asked to give of the offspring to  others!  That is really being a good neighbor!

So the Sunday message of this blog is to open the hand and let God fill it.  Now is the only moment you have to both give and receive.  And may the Swartz be with you!     Shelley