She climbed into the van, disappointed.
“By the time my class arrived at the bake sale there was basically nothing left.”
she said. “There was one muffin and two jello cups. MacKensie got the last muffin
and you know I don’t like jello.”
She’d been excited for the
bake sale for days, so I understood why she was so sad about it. To cheer her
up I suggested that we go to Tim Horton’s where she could buy a muffin instead.
(This is a treat for us…big families and all that jazz. Buying goodies doesn’t
happen often.)
As we were chatting on our
drive to Timmie’s she mentioned that she was happy that she still got to donate
to the bake sale’s cause though. She wasn’t sure how much the muffin would have
cost and she wanted to make a donation so she gave six dollars.
Now six dollars may not be
that much to you or me, but to my little girl it’s a small fortune. Again, with
the big family element and without gifts of money on special occasions, she
earns five dollars every two months for helping with the flyer route and a
dollar or two here and there for lost teeth or for watching her baby sister
while I shower. I was floored that she chose to give so much of what she had
away. She didn’t feel sorry for herself for having less. Instead she felt joy
in sharing what she’d been saving up.
As we sat, eating our fruit
explosion muffins together, we all celebrated Emily’s generosity and the fact
that some happy kids would be blessed by it.
The Bible says:
“Do not lay
up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves
break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where
neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For
where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Matthew
6:19-21
“Judge not,
and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned:
forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. Good
measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your
lap. For with the measure that you use it will be measured back to you.”
Luke 6:37-38
“As for the
rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes
on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who
richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be
rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure
for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold
of that which is truly life.”
1 Timothy
6:17-19 (emphasis added)
I don’t know about you,
but I want to be less tightfisted with what I have. It’s easy to think that
the people who treasure their money are the ones who have a lot of it. But, I’m
realizing that it’s just as easy (if not easier) to treasure it when you have
less. It becomes a thing of value above others, something to be scrimped and
saved and, at times, worshiped. I’ve even justified not sharing it because I
have a right not to. Let the wealthy do the sharing. My needs are too great.
Shame on me.
Today was a beautiful
reminder to live my life with open hands, to seek the God “who richly provides
us with everything to enjoy” and in so doing to “take hold of that which is
truly life”.
Final thought:
“If then you
have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is,
seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not
on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with
Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life appears, then you will appear with
him in glory.”
Colossians 3:1-4
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