This year, like every year on Christmas Eve, our family went to an orphanage and gave gifts to children who didn’t have much in this world. We sang carols, swapped stories, started friendships and, in living the spirit of giving, shared the best parts of our hearts, our minds, ourselves. We have an Australian brother-in-law who says that Christmas Eve is his favorite day of the year, and because of opportunities like this at the orphanage, it’s also ours.

We are joining the Giving Pledge because it deepens the joy of giving. We have been giving all of our lives, so taking the Pledge will change nothing in the logistics or amount of our charity. But joining this larger community of generous and kind-hearted folks is appealing to us. When two join together, their strength isn’t merely doubled; it’s increased manifold. This community, like any community, is much greater than its number of individuals.

In addition, we were both raised in the Church, and a key theme of the Bible is the importance, the necessity, of giving. For instance, in his second letter to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul invites us to be cheerful givers and to share abundantly in every good work, and he goes on to explain why: “It is a question of a fair balance between your present abundance and their need.” (2 Cor. 8: 13 – 14). There are thousands of other injunctions on the need to help the poor in the Bible, and these are two we often turn to:

First John 3:17: “How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses to help?”

Deuteronomy 15:7-8: “Do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your needy neighbor. You should rather open your hand, willingly lending enough to meet the need, whatever it may be.”

We have found that all giving is joyous; true happiness, in fact, is impossible without generosity of money, time and/or talents. We emphasize time and talent because intellectual capital trumps financial capital every time. But it’s the spirit of generosity underlying all giving that can have the greatest impact.

The difference between anonymous giving and joining the Giving Pledge is the difference between private prayer and communal worship: both are good, but the latter provides a deeper joy because it’s among others—spirits are joined and lifted even higher. Giving of oneself really is a form of prayer or worship, and by joining the Giving Pledge, we join an ecumenical spirit among people of various faiths who have already pledged and are committed to the deep spiritual joy of giving. We are blessed to be able to do so.