I was thinking more about what I have learned from my mother’s tasty loaves, but added to that, all the other baking and fruit canning she did and shared with our neighbours. Some we were close friends with, and others we were less so. Some homes my mother visited regularly for a cup of tea, and to some of the neighbours she will just wave at when they pass by. Thinking back of those years I realised that whatever she had extra she shared with everyone… up and down the street. My Dad also had the most amazing peach orchard. It was his hobby and his pride and he equally loved to share those juicy peaches with everyone that would like one.
I was usually the one that did the honour to deliver these gifts to the neighbours. I must admit that I was not always happy to do that because some homes were a bit awkward to go to, and a few I felt a bit intimidated by. Sometimes I tried hard to wiggle myself out of not taking the loaf, rusks, cookies or fruit, but my mother will never let me get me away with it. To me, as a little girl, the neighbours at the back were the scariest of all, and they were the ones my Mum were the most generous to! Can you believe that! Sometimes my brothers will help out, but I was the one that could squeeze through the hole in the fence the easiest. They actually live around the corner on a different street but our back yards connected. They were two brothers and two sisters, all unmarried and I think they were all over one hundred years old. They were all teachers in their day and the spinsters ran a pre-school in their dark big house. Everything was old, smelled old and I was convinced there were hundreds of cats too! They always made me wait on a chair in the kitchen while they disappear to get a treat for me. Oh, sitting there waiting also felt like a hundred years! Yes, you are right, they were not hundred years old and I am sure they were really lovely and kind and they never had any plans to stick me in a dark cupboard.
Generosity is giving with no hope of return.
That was my mother’s motto long before that really took hold of my heart and understanding! That is exactly what generosity says… give and don’t expect anything back. Be generous with no strings attached. I have learnt that our hearts control our generosity!
“You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.”
To be generous cost us something:
It costs us our time
It costs us our privacy
It cost us our finances
It cost us our heart … our whole heart!
I am sure you can add your own to the list.
Very often we hold back because we have little, but if we hold the little that we have too tight in our hands, not allowing the Lord to touch others through it, nothing can be added to it. However, we can’t be generous with what we don’t have either and get ourselves in a pickle. Also, we don’t have to compete with others and try to match their generosity.
Proverbs 11:24
One person gives freely, yet gaines even more;
Another withholds unduly but comes to poverty.”
God is our provider and He is vitally interested in blessing those who come over our doorsteps, and those we come in contact with. Very often we need to take the risk to be generous with whatever you need to be generous with at the moment. It all, of course, begin with listening to Lord and to obey.
May your smiles, your listening ear, your giving, your praying be generous and loving!
