Do you ever reminisce about things your parents or grandparents used to do—things that, at that time, were practical and ordinary, and yet they are almost forgotten today? Maybe you picture your grandmother carefully lining up glass jars as she canned tomatoes from the garden, or the smell of hot biscuits rising in a cast-iron skillet. Those were everyday skills once, but now they feel like treasures of the past.
For me, one of those treasures has been learning to write in Gregg Shorthand.1,2 It was once a common subject for young ladies in high school, preparing them for secretarial work or court reporting. I have been dusting it off, learning again how to jot down conversations quickly and neatly. There is such joy in recovering a “lost skill,” especially one that helps me stay more present and organized in daily life.
Of course, not all skills come with a pen and notebook. Some of the most lasting lessons and valuable skills came from our parents, such as managing money with purpose. Many of us were taught simple budgeting: one dollar for God—He comes first. One dollar for savings. One dollar for investing. And the other seven dollars for today’s needs. But, somewhere along the way, we may have let those habits fade into memory.
The truth is, planned giving is one of those skills worth keeping alive. Just like those family lessons, it begins with putting God first—trusting that “all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33). When we put God first, He promises to take care of the rest. Let us not allow our desire to reach the unreached slip into the lost skills category.
If you would like to rekindle the timeless practice of planned giving, you can reach out to James Petty at (269) 473-5001 or jpetty@afmonline.org.
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1 History of Gregg Shorthand and its inventor, John Robert Gregg: https://www.britannica.com/topic/shorthand/Machine-shorthand
2 Introductory video to see shorthand at work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74EnZI5_DxE
