Giving
“Do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your needy neighbor. ”
Florence Alshorn, a missionary teacher, once said, "an ideal is not yours until it comes out of your fingertips." To be a Christian is not just to be decent and respectable. It is to be involved, sometimes with the sheep who left the fold, the prodigal son, the woman who was found in adultery, the jealous woman, the cold-hearted man.
We often excuse ourselves by feeling that we have little to give, but have you ever thought of the sounds of a church meeting? They are often an answer to someone's prayer - a way of giving ourselves.
Purses opening is a sound that money is being given for the needs of others, often quietly given with no thought of return. Voices speaking are a sound of encouragement. It is a wonderful thing to know there is someone standing with us. Dishes rattling are a sign of fellowship. For some reason, we seem to be more open with others when we are eating.
In whatever way we give, we will find that as we concern ourselves with another's life and needs, we become more alive.
For Reflection: What am I giving, and to whom?
A Prayer Seed:
What can I give Him,
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd
I would bring a lamb,
If I were a Wise Man,
I would do my part,
Yet what I can I give Him -
Give my heart.
Christina Rosetti, 1862
