Posts
I ran across this article by Steven King that surprised and impressed me. To the best of my knowledge he doesn't run in Christian circles nor does he admit to it here. However, could it be possible that he has a better grasp on giving than many Christians?
A couple of years ago I found out what "you can't take it with you" means. I found out while I was lying in a ditch at the side of a country road, covered with mud and blood and with the tibia of my right leg poking out the side of my jeans like a branch of a tree taken down in a thunderstorm. I had a MasterCard in my wallet, but when you're lying in a ditch with broken glass in your hair, no one accepts MasterCard.
...We come in naked and broke. We may be dressed when we go out, but we're just as broke. Warren Buffet? Going to go out broke. Bill Gates? Going out broke. Tom Hanks? Going out broke. Steve King? Broke. Not a crying dime.
All the money you earn, all the stocks you buy, all the mutual funds you trade--all of that is mostly smoke and mirrors. It's still going to be a quarter-past getting late whether you tell the time on a Timex or a Rolex....So I want you to consider making your life one long gift to others. And why not? All you have is on loan, anyway. All that lasts is what you pass on....
Now imagine a nice little backyard, surrounded by a board fence. Dad--a pleasant fellow, a little plump--is tending the barbecue. Mom and the kids are setting the picnic table: fried chicken, coleslaw, potato salad, a chocolate cake for dessert. And standing around the fence, looking in, are emaciated men and women, starving children. They are silent. They only watch.
That family at the picnic is us; that backyard is America, and those hungry people on the other side of the fence, watching us sit down to eat, include far too much of the rest of the world: Asia and the subcontinent; countries in Central Europe, where people live on the edge from one harvest to the next; South America, where they're burning down the rain forests; and most of all, Africa, where AIDS is pandemic and starvation is a fact of life.
It's not a pretty picture, but we have the power to help, the power to change. And why should we refuse? Because we're going to take it with us? Please.
Giving isn't about the receiver or the gift but the giver. It's for the giver. One doesn't open one's wallet to improve the world, although it's nice when that happens; one does it to improve one's self....
A life of giving--not just money, but time and spirit--repays. It helps us remember that we may be going out broke, but right now we're doing O.K. Right now we have the power to do great good for others and for ourselves.
So I ask you to begin giving, and to continue as you begin. I think you'll find in the end that you got far more than you ever had, and did more good than you ever dreamed.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I found it and have it bookmarked, I agree that is a good view of giving and why.
Gpa
I was pleased that you have posted so quickly - you must have been on the plane! Very good story from Steven King; it is good to be reminded! We'll be following you closely.
Love, Gma Pat
Giving isn't about the receiver or the gift but the giver. It's for the giver.
This a learned part of our life. Only though the experience and giving in the true, pure sense of doing it can on experience the joy and satisfaction of it. Once one has that experience it is a wanting to do it again. That does not mean we should give that which we don't have. That want work as some can speak too. The Prodical Son (Lk 15)was throwing parties and it found him out. Steve's point is well taken. It is not as easy to teach as it is to say, as are so many things in life.
Dr. C. Stanley has in his monthly magazine INTOUCH(June 2007), a good article on accountibility. I realize this is another subject, yet it is about our doing and then being responsibile for our actions. Ah this is a life long set of experiences that one has to keep working at and listening to others that are of the same bolt of cloth or even a little different some times. It want contaminate you. As your Uncle Ben and were talking not too long ago, we need a throne in our side, here on this earth.
Youth will for sure, sometimes give us pause to ponder. Us oldies have our memory banks pretty full and need to be able to hear a new thought occasionally. For sure, the world is going to be changing and changing.
I heard Dr. Charles Thompson the other morning (pastor of First Baptist church Ft. Smith, Ark.) trying to illustrate how to know right from wrong, and his thought was to us the Bible as a filter in our lives. (I might add the King James version.) I've given that more than a passing thought.
Another good thought was from Dr. Stanley,pastor of First Baptist in Atlanta, Ga., "Humility before service".
I've used up my space probably, but Mr.King did have some good thoughts about giving and I like yours about maybe us Christians? could take a lesson possibility.(To the best of my knowledge he doesn't run in Christian circles nor does he admit to it here. However, could it be possible that he has a better grasp on giving than many Christians?) Very good thought.
good day and God Bless
LEMINWOODS
Post a Comment