Giving is Hard
Giving Is Hard, But So Worth It
Sometimes there are moments in life when it is easy to be a cheerful giver and bring the love of God to people that are in need or hurting. And sometimes those moments just fall right into your lap without expecting it. Those tend to be the hardest moments to give cheerfully - when your guard is down. This happened to me the other day.
Being a single parent is not for the faint of heart. Managing all the ins and outs of raising kids and running a household is difficult for two parents. I didn’t know what tired was until I had to do all of that on my own. So - needless to say - there are quite a few things that get left undone inside and outside of the house.
After a few joy rides in the Jeep over the span of a couple months, I realized it was time to wash the red clay off. A feat that is incredibly hard in some places around the Wrangler, which is why I had been putting it off. The day was incredibly alluring, however, and my soul was yearning to be outside. So, I prepped the car and got to work trying to get the clay out of all the nooks and crannies.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw a PT Cruiser slowly drive by my house, stop, and then turned around. Being the incredible introvert that I am, I had a slight panic as the woman in the driver seat jumped out of the car and started walking towards me. “Sigh, what do they want to sell me,” I thought. As I mentally prepared my excuse to decline whatever it was she was trying to sell me, she offered to do something unexpected.
“Hi, we’re looking for work and wanted to know if we could trim your palm for $30,” she says.
Remember what I said about being a single parent and letting some things go undone? Well, the palm in my front yard would be one those things. When I say this palm was a sad state of affairs, I mean you could probably call it a “willow palm.” It sits in a bed right in the middle of the yard. The lower branches were browning and drooping over the stone edging… it was sad. I agreed to let her to do it.
However, being the millennial that I am, I rarely have cash on me. I don’t really know if that’s a millennial thing or not, but I’d rather place the blame on something than admit I have poor financial skills. I told her I probably don’t have cash on me, but she did have Venmo. So, we agreed on that and they went to work while I continued to wash my car.
As I’m futilely trying to find a way to clean the red clay off my tires with what cleaning products I have, I took another glance at my new yard crew. They had a little girl in the Cruiser watching them work. The car looked a little worse for wear. And then I suddenly remembered the $100 bill I’ve been keeping in my wallet since my birthday…which was in March. Did I mention I’m bad with cash? As I looked closely at their situation, something (or rather Someone) told me that I needed to give them the $100. After thinking about it for a couple of minutes, I walked inside and grabbed my wallet. Inside was a $100 bill and a $50 bill. I grabbed the $50.
“One hundred is way too much for trimming a bush,” I think.
The moment I walked back outside, however, I felt a burden or calling once more. “Give them the $100,” I kept hearing that over and over again in my head.
By now, I’ve agreed that keeping $100 for that long in my wallet and never finding a use for it tells me that I obviously don’t need that money. I went back inside and switched the bills. By this time, they were done trimming the pine. To picture just how bad the condition this pine was in, I discovered that there were 4 other plants surrounding it that I had never seen before.
They asked if I liked it and if I wanted them to do anything else. I told them it was much better than what I would’ve done and that I’m grateful they stopped by. I reached in my pocket and handed the man (his name was Ashley) the $100.
“I usually don’t carry cash on me,” I said. “But God has blessed me a lot recently so I can bless others, so I want you to have this.”
Very graciously, he accepted the cash and told me that on the way over to this area from Pensacola one of their brakes went out and they would need to get it fixed before they headed back home.
Wow.
I don’t know if they needed the money to help them fix their brakes, but I’m sure it would help regardless. However, this isn’t a story about how great of a thing I did, or how I heard God’s voice in my head to do something and I faithfully did it.
What I will take away the most from this encounter is just how genuinely happy this couple was despite their circumstances. They’re limping along in a broken PT Cruiser, trying to find work, working and sweating in the dirt… but they genuinely appear to be happy people. Here I am in front of my four-bedroom home washing my Jeep Wrangler and they appear to have so much more joy than I’ve had in a long time. They were literally laughing about the brake going out as if it was just a minor inconvenience.
Sometimes a God moment like this is just as powerful (if not more so) for the giver as it is to the one who receives the gift. For me it was a reminder of just how precious and important the little things are in life. Sometimes the giver is blessed more than the one who receives. And while we sometimes try to fill our emptiness with earthly things, we forget that those things do not necessarily feed our souls.
Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 9:6-8 that those who sow generously will also reap generously. May this story encourage you and serve as a testimony to the truth of this scripture.
Blessings,
Matt