Staying On Message
God is doing a really great job of staying on message lately. I do believe I'm starting to get the point.
It all started a couple of weeks ago when we got a picture in the mail from an organization we supported last year. They sent a picture of what our money went toward, and at first I thought the pic was photo shopped. I didn't have a great reason the jump to that conclusion. I was just having a cynical day.
Upon further review (thanks to Stacy), I found out the pic was legit to the max. And as I looked at it, it humbled me. It occurred to me that it was the best money I had spent that year. It humbled me to think that God used our family to do something across the world, and it made me feel a little ashamed that I wasn't doing more. Perhaps some more generosity was in order.
Then we went to church. The sermon was about tithing, but what it really made me think about was the gifts and offerings that are given in addition to tithes. It also made me think about the practice of tithes and offerings as a spiritual discipline. Again. Generosity.
And then Barbara came over the other night, with pie in hand. Barbara lives across the street from us and runs and inner-city youth ministry out of her home. She's an angel. An angel who was bringing us a pie. As the story goes, her church had a picnic on Sunday. At the end of the picnic, she was given a pie. Her very first thought was not, "Wow! God is so good! I have a free pie!" No. She's a way better person than me. Her first thought was, "Wow! God is so good! Who can I bless with this free pie?" Answer: Dashiell's.
With image and word and fruit, God is staying on message. Be generous with a purpose, because God is generous to us and our generosity helps us keep our focus on God. Good message.
Fair Dinkum
It all started a couple of weeks ago when we got a picture in the mail from an organization we supported last year. They sent a picture of what our money went toward, and at first I thought the pic was photo shopped. I didn't have a great reason the jump to that conclusion. I was just having a cynical day.
Upon further review (thanks to Stacy), I found out the pic was legit to the max. And as I looked at it, it humbled me. It occurred to me that it was the best money I had spent that year. It humbled me to think that God used our family to do something across the world, and it made me feel a little ashamed that I wasn't doing more. Perhaps some more generosity was in order.
Then we went to church. The sermon was about tithing, but what it really made me think about was the gifts and offerings that are given in addition to tithes. It also made me think about the practice of tithes and offerings as a spiritual discipline. Again. Generosity.
And then Barbara came over the other night, with pie in hand. Barbara lives across the street from us and runs and inner-city youth ministry out of her home. She's an angel. An angel who was bringing us a pie. As the story goes, her church had a picnic on Sunday. At the end of the picnic, she was given a pie. Her very first thought was not, "Wow! God is so good! I have a free pie!" No. She's a way better person than me. Her first thought was, "Wow! God is so good! Who can I bless with this free pie?" Answer: Dashiell's.
With image and word and fruit, God is staying on message. Be generous with a purpose, because God is generous to us and our generosity helps us keep our focus on God. Good message.
Fair Dinkum
Thanks,
Abby Reed