This past Saturday and Sunday was my biggest fundraiser yet, a giant “rummage sale”. I learned a lot from this experience…starting with the realization that “rummage sale” is often interpreted as “garbage sale” in Northern Virginia. Oops. Despite this little flaw in our advertising, we still had a great turn out and made over $2,000! Yay, thanks God!
This was the most difficult fundraiser to plan (I started in August) and I have to admit my bad attitude set in mid day Sunday as I realized there was no way in the world we were making our $4,000 goal. But then I had to ask myself, “Why is our goal $4,000?”. I made that number based on another friend who had had a rummage sale. The dangers of comparison. I would have been much happier had I just gone in to the weekend asking God to provide however much he felt he wanted to provide. I’ve always been told goals are important and to make specific goals to strive for. However, there are some cases in life where maybe it’s better to just throw your goals and expectations out the window and accept what is graciously given to you. I think this was one of those times.
Money is such a touchy subject, the cause of excitement, happiness, stress, frustration. When it comes to raising money for a mission trip, it’s a God thing, not a business thing. When I finally realized this and that my focus on profit was clouding my joy, I became thankful. I am so thankful for the outcome of our fundraiser and not just for the money we made. I am thankful for the people who contributed in so many different ways. We had people donate TONS of beautiful things from their homes. We had volunteers help us load and unload and supportive friends stop by and see all of our hard work.
All in all, I had such a great weekend. I built closer relationships with the people who were there helping us. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. My perspective on fundraising was changed. I’m thankful for whatever the Lord provides for me and I’m done with goal setting and expectations from here on out.
