The idea of giving is really on my mind these days. I woke up this morning remembering an incident that happened several Christmases ago as if it happened just yesterday: Dell and I were involved in a small church plant. Every Christmas Day members of the congregation joined the pastor's family to sing songs and spread a bit of Christmas joy in the form of warm mitts and scarves at the local detox centre. This particular year it happened that both Dell and I had new scarves we hadn't worn yet. In fact I think they had been in the closet since the previous winter and still had the tags on. I felt we should give these scarves to the detox centre. Dell wasn't so keen. After all, just because we hadn't worn them yet didn't mean we wouldn't still need them. I understood his reluctance. We had no money at the time to replace them. So we compromised and I gave mine and he kept his. A week later I received a parcel in the mail from a Japanese friend in Tokyo. In the parcel was a brand new womens scarf even nicer than the one I had given away. I was thrilled but not surprised by God's generosity. But my poor husband got his cumuppance for trying to be such a good steward: the following week we received a parcel from a friend in Florida. In the box was a lovely new mens scarf! We could have given away Dell's original scarf too but used the idea of "good stewardship" to thwart God's original plan to return to us what we should have joyfully given away in the first place! Lesson learned? We can only hope so......
"Give and it shall be given unto you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over........" (Luke 6:38) A scripture quoted out of context and yet the principle seems universal in God's kingdom.
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