The Power of Giving In Everyday Life
As we fully enter into the Holidays with the passing of Thanksgiving, most of us are starting to be filled with the sentiments of generosity, giving, and sharing that comes with the Season. Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on the blessings in our lives and to purposefully set aside time and energy to share the love of the season with others. While counting our blessings usually starts with our friends and family, we can quickly shift our focus to other areas of our lives and see the treasures in them as well.
For all of us at Beyond Measure, the most significant blessings (besides our faith, family, and friends) have come to us in the generosity we have seen since we started a year ago. We have witnessed first-hand donors coming together to support private school teachers in a huge way! Our donors have given over $10,000 this year to support ministry-led educators making so many dreams come true for teachers! Even when schools and teachers had their worlds turned upside down with a pandemic, the one constant was that education had to continue and teachers had to adapt their entire way of teaching. It was a thrill to walk alongside some teachers that embraced the spirit of community that we have worked hard to create at Beyond Measure as they posted their projects to help them with distance learning.
This spirit of community is important to us as Christians.
“Discover creative ways to encourage others and to motivate them toward acts of compassion, doing beautiful works as expressions of love. This is not the time to pull away and neglect meeting together, as some have formed the habit of doing, because we need each other! In fact, we should come together even more frequently, eager to encourage and urge each other onward as we anticipate that day dawning.” Hebrews 10:24–25 (The Passion Translation).
Clearly, we should work to inspire, strengthen, and support one another and build community with those around us. This is probably why it makes us feel good to do good for others! This is a meaningful connection that we want to build with the schools and teachers that post projects on Beyond Measure, as well as with the donors that support the projects. We are proud of the strong start that we have had in making those connections and look forward to making more of them! Seeing the generosity that has come through Beyond Measure has been a huge blessing, especially through times of uncertainty that came with the global pandemic.
If you have a connection to a private school or private school teacher, you already benefit from being in that school or teacher’s community. Our hope is that now that you have read and learned a little more about Beyond Measure and how important community, generosity, and sharing is to us, you will encourage them to be a part of what we do. From projects to help with distance learning to projects that enhance a teacher’s classroom library, Beyond Measure is where teachers can share their needs with a supportive and encouraging community.
We are excited to see what our second year will bring, and our fervent prayer is that we can reach even more private schools and teachers and continue to bless these schools and their ministry-led teachers so that they can be the best teachers God has created them to be!
About the Author
Mrs. Ingrid Lake is the Co-founder and President of Beyond Measure. She has an incredible heart for private Christian education with a masters and teaching credential from a private university.
Ingrid has held various private school roles including being a volunteer, school clerk, substitute teacher, fundraiser coordinator, Secondary Principal, Student Council Advisor, PTF member and Board Member. Learn more about Ingrid and Beyond Measure at https://www.facebook.com/GoBeyondMeasure.org.
