At the Lord's House of Prayer, I remember Pastor Mark talking several times about the cheerful giver and how God looks not just at our gift but also at our heart. I saw a glimpse of this truth this morning through my children.
Joshua is not keen on sharing right now. The other morning I had filled his bowl with cheerios and then he asked for waffles. So, since Caleb loves cheerios, I began to give him some out of the bowl while I was making Joshua's breakfast. Joshua was appalled. He quickly ran to Caleb's tray and began shoveling cheerios into his mouth by the fistfulls. I understand at this age that children aren't all about sharing toys and things, but we've been trying to work with the Bean to show him how important it is to love one another and share.
This morning Joshua requested cheerios for breakfast. After getting him & Caleb their food, I began to work on getting myself something to eat. I decided on low-carb Special K with a banana cut up in it. As I sat down to eat, Joshua asked me for a bite. I said "sure, please come sit on the seat next to me, and I will feed you some of my cereal." So, he came right over. Then I realized that this was a good opportunity to talk to him about sharing. So, even though Caleb already had some cheerios on his tray, I explained to Joshua that I was sharing my breakfast with him so would he be willing to give Caleb a handful of the cheerios from his bowl? He was so excited, and he went right over and dumped his entire bowl of cheerios onto Caleb's tray and said "Here you go, Caleb!" Caleb was also excited as cheerios were overflowing everywhere, and they both giggled.
It struck me how joyful Joshua was to give away his food. He didn't just give Caleb a cheerio or two, he emptied his entire bowl. And, I realized another important lesson. I, as the parent, had another box and a half of cheerios left (Mom had bought us some in bulk from BJ's the last time we were there). If Joshua would have wanted more, I would have gladly filled his bowl to the brim since he was so kind to share.
How much does God see us like I see my kids (only He is way more loving and all-knowing). How many times does He ask us to give, having blessings waiting for us if we'll turn over 'everything' to Him? My cheerful giver blessed me this morning, but I realize that the real blessings lie in learning God's truths and hopefully being able to pass them along to my amazing children. See Mark 12 and Luke 21 for the story of the poor widow who gave all she had...
No comments:
Post a Comment