Lord make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is Hatred let me sow Love; where there is Injury, Pardon; where there is Doubt, Faith; where there is Despair, Hope; where there is Darkness, Light; where there is Sadness, Joy. O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be Consoled, as to Console; not so much to be Understood as to Understand; to be Loved as to Love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. St. Francis
I had a confirmation student who was struggling with the church’s confirmation process. He was a good kid and his struggle represented many others. I once told him, “David, if you live your life with the principle that the more you give away the more you will have, your confirmation process is finished.” His eyes lit up at the prospect of not needing to come to any more confirmation classes but then he remembered he would be going home and facing his parents, so he smiled and said he would think about that. He kept coming to the classes.
I was serious, if he, or I, would live by the principle that giving equals receiving we would indeed be happy campers! In truth, generosity wrestles with accumulation—they are like two animals fighting inside of us and the one we feed is the one that wins.
We exist because of the generosity of our God. God has created us and continues to give to us so that “my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete,” John 15:11. His joy comes in seeing our joy.
Have you felt the joy of giving? Have you experienced the emotional, physical, and spiritual “lift” that comes from being generous with your generosity?
“For it is in giving that we receive,” is God talking to us and giving the very keys to the joy of living.
Prayer: Lord, teach me to give so I might live. Amen.
Pastor Jerry
Tomorrow: Pardoning Pardons
