Thoughts About Tithing.

So I read a post by Lee Harrington about attending True+Paid+Good in Manhattan last week.
He talked about tithing and prayer and about how the Holy enters your life (and changes your life, and pushes your work towards those who need it) through action. As in YOUR action.

I started this year wanting to push myself towards action (which is going so well…). I think I’ve Done More Things than I would have if I hadn’t made that commitment to myself. But I do feel like I’m falling behind on things – two things, in particular – one of which I’ll get into for my next PBP13 post.
 
So where am I going with this?
 
I pray. I do my little devotional rituals, I talk to my gods. I don’t typically do any of the meditational things – beyond tarot readings when I have a specific question – that have been described as the listening side of that equation.
But what else do I do?
For a while, I was thinking of, well, all the Decent Human Being things I didn’t particularly want to make time for – listening to friendly acquaintances complain about The Same Old Thing; spending half an hour hanging out in the lobby with a lonely neighbour; that kind of stuff – as Part Of The Work. Not because it necessarily is part of the work – although my wife (and Terry Pratchett) would say that this is the bulk of Witching – but because framing it as such gave me a reason (and not a particularly noble or good reason, either) to actually do it.
 
So I have to ask myself: What is my tithe?
My one-afternoon-per-week of devotional rituals and pagan-centric blogging (aka: thinking about stuff, philosophizing, and getting my head around my own practice) is less than 10% of my time[1] – in fact it’s probably just shy of 5% of my waking time. But it’s there.
My question is: What is my tithe to my communities? What am I giving to my Pagan community[2]? What am I giving to my Kink community[3]? What am I giving to my Queer community[4]?
 
Things to think about, sure. But things to act on, even more so.
 
 
Wish me luck.
Meliad the Birch Maiden.
 
 
[1] Although, fun fact, if you’re wondering why federal (and most other) paycheques in Canada happen every two weeks? It’s because the official required Tithe To The Church for New France (and, from there, Canada – though I don’t remember how that link happened) was not one tenth, but one twenty-sixth of one’s income: If you pay people every two weeks in a 52-week calendar year, the requisite tithe conveniently translates into a single paycheque. Easy! 😀 But let’s stick with 10% for now. 😉
 
[2] Not a whole lot these days, outside of this blog. Not actually planning on changing that all that much at the moment, either. Hrm. :-\
 
[3] Somewhat more on this front. It’s been a long-ass time since I held a Poly And Power salon, but I’ve held them. I’m offering a workshop at the upcoming Harvest. I feed people (literally). I’m trying to get myself ready to deal with being a Point Of Entry person again, although I do keep putting that off – a sure sign that I don’t want to go there yet. Cripes. :-\ So… Wobbly on that front?
 
[4] A lot. Although a massive part of that is because it’s literally my for-money job. Bonus. 🙂