Kids don’t like to share.
Being born into a family of six siblings…
Growing up to become a mother of four children…
Becoming a grandmother of eleven grandchildren,
And yet, it’s been rare to meet a child who dares to share.
Babies are born selfish.
They want what they want,
Day or night,
And scream until they get their way.
Not much changes through the years.
For Christmas, my adult daughter buys her two young girls the same gifts to eliminate the tug-of-war fighting over toys they cry to share. The grandparents and aunts and uncles are asked to do the same.
Why do we hold on tight to what is ours,
Instead of sharing or giving our blessings away?
But still, these truths of Jesus are written,
…It is more blessed to give than to receive.
Acts 20:35 KJV
As a young girl during the song services of the old hymns when we as a family sat together and took our seat on a wooden pew near the front each week.
The words on those reverent pages sounded a different tune over the years and stirred a desire for Jesus to shine His bright light from my life much like the morning rays glaring through the stained glass windows on each side of our Southern Baptist church, and make me a blessing to someone today.
MAKE ME A BLESSING
By Ira B. Wilson (1909)
Make me a blessing,
Make me a blessing.
Out of my life, may Jesus shine.
Make me a blessing, O Savior, I pray.
Make me a blessing to someone today.
Oh, how God has blessed us.
Our good Father blesses the desires of His children.
But we are also blessed to be a blessing to others.
In big ways; in small ways.
From our abundance; from our sacrifice.
It was a few days before Christmas of 2022, and I was in the salon getting my hair colored and cut when I met an older woman widowed for about a year.
Speaking out loud her Christmas list she said,
“All I want for Christmas is a bowl of homemade chicken noodle soup with homemade noodles, homemade bread AND (very specific), homemade strawberry / rhubarb jam.”
Being about 80 years young, she said it made her sad that women don’t make food from scratch in the kitchen these days.
So, I looked at this beautiful grandmotherly type and took her number and said that I would be delivering her “dream-come true” meal after the New Year.
So interesting that God loves to meet our needs and desires with great detail.
Not only do I made noodles and bread from scratch, I always freeze strawberries and rhubarb in the summer so I can make jams fresh and as gifts in the winter.
After the holidays, I delivered Miss Emily’s Christmas wish in a bag.
She asked, “How much did she owe me?”
I told her the Bible says, “…remember no more the reproach of your widowhood, for your Maker is your husband.
Isaiah 54:4-5 NIV
I also reminded Miss Emily how God is her husband thru the hands and feet of others.
I looked at Miss Emily with a smile,
“Dinner is on God.”
I made enough soup, bread and jam for three other widows in my neighborhood.
I thanked the Lord for being such a great husband to so many, and how He overflowed my basket and opened my eyes to how He created us
blessed to be a blessing.
You just can’t out give the Lord.
Give, and it will be given to you…
A good measure, pressed down, shaken together
And running over will be poured into your lap.
For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
Luke 6:38 NIV
Our seeds of generosity over a lifetime become a forest.
May the old hymns never go out of style in our hearts…
We are blessed to be a blessing…
Lord, make me a blessing,
To someone today.
Apples of Gold Encouragement 