Giving and Living

Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.  Luke 6:38

I want to tell a quick story, a testimony, really, of people God has put into our lives that live out the verse I have in red-letter just above.  We sing a hymn at church, "Count your Blessings, Name Them One by One," and to tell you the truth, God has showered us with so many blessings, I can't count that high!

First, my Mom & Dad and my Mother-in-law.  They are constantly so generous and thoughtful - not only to us, but to others as well.  They give until it hurts.  Sacrificially.  Gifts, money, advice, labor.  Always there.  What great role models and examples of Christian generosity!  It would be more than enough if it stopped there, but it doesn't.

The other day, I was in the kitchen after working outside.  I was filthy.  Hot, sweaty and dirty.  There was a knock at the door.  I opened the door and was surprised by someone from our church that makes delicious sweet dough fruit pies and had driven out to deliver an assortment of little tarts for us.  On another day, a lady from our church dropped off a tray of homemade cinnamon rolls.  

Later that week, another knock.  Our next door neighbor sets hoop nets on the bayou.  He had run his nets and caught 487 pounds (you read that right!) of catfish and wanted to share some with us.  He gave us a bag with 10 pounds of cleaned, skinned catfish, ready for frying or making a courtboullion!

 Later I was in the back yard checking on the potatoes and a gentleman came walking into the backyard with a bowl of fresh-picked blackberries.  Juicy and sweet!  He just wanted to share his bounty with us.  Just take a look at these bad boys:

These are some of the biggest blackberries I've ever seen in my life!

A couple days later a gentleman from our church drove up the driveway in his pickup truck.  He got out with a bag of fresh picked yellow squash and zucchini!

His "garden" is really a field.  He grows for his family, his church family, and really for the whole community.  He didn't just stop at our house.  He was making his rounds, sharing his crop with others.  And so it goes.   

Both my family and I have been beneficiaries of the goodness of people that God placed in our lives - people that have mastered the art of holding onto things loosely, with open hands, and sharing with others.  We are truly blessed, and I aspire to learn to be more giving to others by following the example they have set.  God is so good!  

“I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.”  Acts 20:35