“But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand” 1 Chronicles 29:14
One of the saddest days for the Victoria’s Friends’ ministry team arrived when a dear friend of ours received a phone call that his eighteen-year-old son had passed away while he was on the way to bury his mother. The news was totally unexpected. How would any of us process a moment of heading to one funeral and finding out we had another huge loss? Only by God’s grace and His hand on it can we get through that day. We quickly gathered our thoughts and offered to help our friend. His request for us was a beautiful one. He simply wanted twelve dozen rose petals spread around his son’s gravesite, but we were in the middle of the world pandemic of COVID-19. Everything was closing down as Georgia was sheltering in. We locked down the roses with the local farmer’s market only to find out they’d already closed by the time we went to purchase the petals. A volunteer with Victoria’s Friends just happened to notice a florist sign on the way back from the market. Assuming they’d be closed with the rest of the world, he nevertheless pulled into the florist’s parking lot and rang the doorbell. To my volunteer’s surprise, a sweet man in his seventies came to the door. It’s amazing how God coordinates situations. The florist poured out his heart. Times had been hard, and he was about to lose his shop. My volunteer explained how desperate we were to get the petals, the only request from our dear friend, and it just so happened that the florist had roses of all colors. Delighted to help, he pulled off the petals and placed them in boxes for us. It was a double blessing because we were able to give him a gift card and some food items that were difficult to find. My friend’s son’s graveside service was so special, and my heart swelled as we scattered the petals. We had to follow the restrictions about keeping our distance from one another for the service, so we staggered people up on a hillside with everyone standing six feet apart. The most beautiful spirit of the Lord came over us all as we sang and celebrated my friend’s son. The rose petals and additional flowers the florist made for us were miracles during COVID-19. A few days later, I headed out for my predictable morning hike. My daughter, home from college, joined me. We took off down a trail that was familiar to us, yet for some reason Hannah noticed an offshoot path that veered to the right. We decided to take it. I was asking how we’d never noticed that trail before, and we decided it must have been covered with leaves. We headed down a tight slope before reaching a wider path. At some point, looking down at my feet, I noticed a line of little flowers. They were rimmed in gold and shaped like miniature trumpets. We continued to walk and talk, and when I looked down again, white flower petals were covering the path. I pointed out to Hannah how beautiful they were. I had never before noticed flower petals on our trail. Pink ones appeared next. Before the day was over, we encountered a massive carpet of flowers and petals. It was a sheer delight with all the varieties combined. Finally, I caught on, paused, and prayed. God, this is you? I recognized His thumbprint. God had colored our new trail! We had blessed our dear friend with the rose petals, and God was blessing us. It was a beautiful hike, and what a beautiful treat! Two days later, I returned to the same trail for the same hike, and there were no flowers, no petals. Whoa! Clearly, during that time of grieving over my friend’s son’s death, God had showed up—bigtime! Moral of the story: We cannot out-give God! He’ll just keep blessing us and blessing us. What an amazing sense of joy to see God out-give us, every single time. When we bless other people, God will bless us more than we could possibly imagine. I want us all to have that same joy.
Here’s some food for thought:
When have we seen God bless us after we’ve chosen to be generous?
Did joy come from giving? If not, what prevented us from feeling happy?
What kind of commitment to giving can we make that will stretch our faith as we keep it?
Lord Jesus, help us to be generous in all that we do. Help us to share our time, our treasures, and our talents. As we do, we know that You will show up and show out! I thank You, God, for Your generosity and know we can never out-give You!
“I will make you rich in every way” 2 Corinthians 9:11