It is better to give than to receive…The Apostle Paul attributes this to Jesus himself.
We try to practice that, both as a family and as a faith community. We believe in generosity as a practical application of our faith in Jesus, as a way of loving our neighbor, as an act of obedience to the call to be a blessing. We look for ways to live that out corporately and as a family.
But tonight the tables got turned on me.
I stopped by the Meyer Dairy with a few of our kiddos to snag some of that delicious glass-bottled milk. We returned 6 empties and took 4, which left a few dollars in my pocket. So I gave Isaac the dude-head-nod, indicating that he should grab a sleeve of ice cream sandwiches. The young lady working behind the cash register asked me how much cash I had on hand–she’d done the math in her head. I was a dollar short. “No big deal,” I said as I moved to put the sleeve back in the freezer.
“Hang on, sir, I’ve got it.” I tried to talk her out of it, but she would not be denied. She was going to bless our family, and there was nothing I could say to change her mind. She closed the deal by saying, “Pay it forward, right?”
It’s better to give than to receive. I believe that. I also find that sometimes you have to be on the receiving end of the gift. That’s the way it works.
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