A Giving Spirit

"It's yours if you want it."  This phrase echoes from my childhood as I heard my mother or dad answer fondly in response to my question of "Whose piece of cake  (pie, fudge, etc.) is that?" as I eagerly eyed the last piece of  dessert or treat, knowing they had probably not had a serving themselves yet.  Wow!  How could they be so generous? I remember thinking, as I helped myself to another luscious mouthful.

And it wasn't just me, any of my siblings (there were 11 of us) could ask the same loaded question and get the same reply.  It was only after I grew up and had a family of my own that I could understand their perspective.  It is more pleasurable to see your child enjoy something than to have it yourself.  (Jesus said that it is better to give than to receive!)

 Mama and Daddy had generous spirits all of their lives.  As an adult, visiting at their house, I might admire some decorative item, trinket, or dish, and Mama would say, "You can have that," sometimes giving me a whole set of dishes she had picked up at a garage sale (I was the one with a houseful of children by then), and once a set of Salad Master stainless steel pots that I still have.

In that simple, less structured time when I was growing up, we could bring home a friend to spend the night without checking with our parents first, knowing they would be welcome.  In fact, to do so would have been an insult to their hospitality. 

Something else Daddy always did (I shudder to think about it now), was to pick up hitchhikers, as often as not giving them a place to stay for the night.  He was always bringing someone home who was "down on their luck" to enjoy a home-cooked meal and even giving them room and board for a few days.  (If it sounds like the Waltons, it's because it was of that era.)

Daddy had a big heart, as did my mother, herself Tennessee born and mountain-folk friendly. In later life, they found even greater fullfilment in serving the Lord, both in church and in Daddy's vocation of spreading the Word of God across the country through Bible sales.

Our heavenly Father also has a giving heart.  He sent His Son, Jesus, to be his representative on earth.  Jesus said, "If you have seen me, you have seen the Father."  In His time on the planet He had created, Jesus reached out to people, especially the poor and hurting, but also to the wealthy, often miserable in their wealth and unaware of their need.

Jesus lived a joyful life (the Bible says he was anointed with joy above his fellows. Psalms 45:7),  and he wants us to have an abundant life: John 10:10, "I am come  that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."  His purpose in giving His life was that we would have eternal life in Heaven.  Like I was told as a child, "It's yours if you want it."