As I had time left on my parking ticket, I popped into a charity shop. I found a beautiful skirt by White Stuff, brand new with the label still on, the right size and colour. It fitted! It cost £9.99.
I came away feeling happy with my purchase, not just because I found something I wanted at a reasonable price, but also because I had thumbed my nose at big business and helped a good cause (Age UK).
This has got me thinking. There is no downside to the principle of giving. The lady who gave the skirt uncluttered her wardrobe and donated something she no longer wanted to a cause she believed in. I was delighted with my purchase. The charity received £9.99. According to the recycling experts, Wrap, the British public sends 350,000 tonnes of used clothing to landfill each year . . . but not my skirt! Charity shops have helped reduce what we bin, as well as saving an estimated million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions a year - the carbon footprint of Iceland. The number of charity shops has increased 30% since 2008 and have performed well as other retail outlets have struggled in the current economic climate. They have rejuvenated failing High Streets, drawn together a community of volunteers and clothed those on a budget.
Giving creates a virtuous circle of beneficial consequences, for those who give and for those who receive. We shouldn't be surprised that this principle cuts through and subverts other principles at work in the world - capitalism, consumerisem, survival of the fittest - for it's a principle established from the dawn of time by the God who gave of himself through his work of creation and salvation. As I redeemed my second hand skirt from the landfill, I believe he will redeem a people through the gift of his son.
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