What does your giving record look like this year? How much have you shared with those less fortunate or at your place of worship?

Now for a more probing question. What does your attitude toward giving look like this year? How many times have you joyfully shared with those less fortunate or at your house of worship?

From the beginning of Scripture, God brought attention not only to giving, but to giving with the right attitude, with a willing heart.
"Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 'Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring Me an offering. From everyone who gives it willingly with his heart you shall take My offering" (Ex. 25:2).
"Take from among you an offering to the Lord. Whoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it as an offering to the Lord" (Ex. 35:5).

Willingness is called "cheerfulness" in the New Testament:
"God loves a cheerful giver" (2 Cor. 9:7).

The word "cheerfulness" use here is "hilarotes". It means "graciousness, joyfulness, gladness, benevolence, amiability, gaiety, affability." In primitive lands, Bible translators define hilarotes as, "The heart is laughing and the eyes are dancing."

When you pull out $20.00 of your grocery or lunch money and give to the beggar on the street or to the offering plate at church, do you do it begrudgingly or with a laughing heart and dancing eyes?

When I was the editor of the Single-Parent Family magazine at Focus on the Family, I asked a man well-known in the area of Christian giving to write an article for my magazine. I wanted him to explain to the reader that no matter how little money we make, God wants us to give Him His part first. That's how we open the door to His provision and abundance. Give first, then allow God to give back. The man wrote the article for me, but he basically said, "If you don't want to give, then don't!"

I edited out those words, as it destroyed the message I wanted to convey. That called for a passionate discussion by phone. I told the man that day, "I think we should be encouraging and concentrating on the cheerfulness of the giver, not whether or not they should give in the first place."

All these years later, I've decided that we were both right. We were both getting at the attitude of the giver. The motive. The cheerfulness. The hilarotes. God is looking not only for givers, but for the ones who do so with laughing hearts and dancing eyes.

It's the kind of giving Dave and I experienced after we met two little boys last week. They're from a country on the other side of the world. Their mother's family had been miraculously delivered from Hinduism when she was 16. She married an American missionary, moved with him to America, and after bad things happened, has been left to raise her children on her own.

I got the privilege of meeting this courageous woman at a retreat where I spoke. Last Saturday afternoon, Dave and I had this woman and her children to our home for pizza, then we took them to an amusement park behind our home. Those 5-and-7-year-old boys never knew anything like that existed. We rode on every ride and played every game in the arcade. Those boys literally ran from one activity to the other.

Their hearts were laughing and eyes were dancing, but so were Dave's and mine. I didn't see as much excitement when I handed money to the man in the grocery store parking lot or to the young girl who waited on me in the restaurant the other day, though I'm sure it was there. What I did observe, however, was a newfound willingness and cheerfulness in me toward passing on the blessing.

Dave and I have learned new lessons in giving this year. We've not only made an effort to give until it hurts, but to do so cheerfully. To date we have met our goals in the money, but we are still working on the cheerful part--especially when we don't have much to give.

But we have learned that when it comes to giving, God wants the cheerful part before He wants the sacrifice. He wants the right motive more than the money. He knows that cheerful giving is a sign that we've chosen God over the dollar and pleasing Him more than the accumulation of things and the satisfaction of our desires.

So at this time of year when money demands are high and the provision is low, let's cut back on the things that don't matter and give until it hurts to the things that do. And as we give, let's glance in a mirror. Do we see dancing eyes? Do we feel a laughing heart?

When we don't always, let's keep working at it. Let's keep searching for the truth Dave and I found at amusement park last Saturday. Let's give until it hurts--and until the laughing and dancing comes.