A couple hours later, I got a call from the husband who is working with a team from his home church in Jarabacoa this week. They needed a few extra putty knives, and could I please go find them and bring them up when I came later that afternoon. I went to his toolbox, and found the putty knives, and then, in what came as a natural reflex, without giving it much thought, I just reached for the sharpie and wrote down 'Clifford' in both handles. I placed them on my desk, and went about my business.Toddler napping, and two boys playing in the sandbox, I found myself with time to sit down and unwind. After checking the news for a few minutes, and become quite disheartened, I thought maybe I should just do some Bible reading. I've been doing a series on the Sermon of the Mount, and what do you know, the reading for the day was on Giving.
"Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don’t make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won’t be applauding." Matthew 6:1 (The Message).
The putty knives with my name on them came to mind. And it suddenly became obvious that my heart is not always in the right place. I thought about how, being honest, I wanted to make sure someone knew those two putty knives were ours.
Look at us, serving together as a family in a foreign land! Look at us, so willing to give our things to the ministry whenever they need them! Look at us, always ready to serve when needed! And please, look out, make sure you take care of my things because, well... they are mine (specially the one that was chewed by our dog!). Look at me, so afraid of fully giving... afraid of losing.
May we learn how to give in a Christ-like manner, in freedom, and complete trust that whatever loss we may foresee when giving will be plenty satisfied by our Heavenly Father.
