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I had a good lesson in giving the other day.  Ironically it came from my four-year old daughter, Sierra.  I’m not sure she totally understood exactly what she was doing, but it showed me the heart of a giver even at such a young age.  Most importantly, it showed me how much of a giver I am NOT.  Sad, but true.

Sierra came to Steve and I on Wednesday and said, “Mom, I want to get the toys I don’t use anymore and give them away.”  Of course I said, “Okay, here is a bag.  Just put in it what you don’t want and we will take it somewhere to give away.”  Now, just so you know, I was thinking that the “somewhere” was going to be our local Salvation Army.  I mean, really…. It is quick to drop off.  I sometimes don’t even have to get out of the car.  I just hand the bag of junk to the guy in the semi-truck and drive away.  No sweat.  That was MY thinking…

After a few minutes Sierra came back with a bag of toys she had collected.  Not only did she collect toys, but she dressed up.  She had a pretty skirt and leggings, a nice top and her “play” high heals on.  (Uh oh.  I think my Salvation Army trip was quickly approaching.)  I told her, “Wow! Sierra you got so much stuff!  That is so nice of you.  After dinner we will drive it to the Salvation Army to give it to the guy for kids that need stuff.”  Her response?  “Oh no!  I don’t want to drive.  You have to go with me to the doors!”  I said, “The doors?  What doors are we talking about?  We’ll drive down the street.  Salvation Army isn’t that far away.”

Her concept of giving her toys away apparently had nothing to do with driving, a man in a semi-truck, or Salvation Army.  Come to find out, she had plans of me walking her around the neighborhood while she knocked on doors to find kids to give her stuff too.  I should be proud, right?  I am.  I was…. after a while.  I hate to admit that, but it is the truth.  My first thoughts were, “Ugh.  I have company coming over soon, I need to clean, I need to get myself ready.  It would be so much easier to drop it off.  Besides, who wants to knock on doors!?  I’m going to feel stupid knocking on a door to give a used toy to a random person.”  Yep.  There it is.  My pride, ego, selfish, arrogant ways coming to the surface of my everyday life.

Eventually, I packed up Cheyenne (my one year old) and my friendly, little, toy giving elf and I set out to the neighborhood.  We rang door bells.  No one was mean.  A few weren’t home.  Everyone was so nice and I have to admit that after the first 2 or 3 I was sort of getting into it.  I was pretty excited to give away that $2 microphone from Target or the toy key chain that made noises.  I even participated in the giving away of a Tinkerbell coloring book (a little used, but whatever).  One house that had two little kids even gave Sierra $5 for being so nice.  We walked home pretty proud of ourselves…. or ummm… Sierra walked home pretty proud of herself.  hahaa

I learned how selfish I am.  Amazing what lessons you learn from a four-year old.    I’m so proud of my little toy giving elf.  I hope and pray that her giving spirit and heart never goes away.   God is such a giver.  It took the innocence of a small child to remind me that it is better to give then to receive.  Find someone to give to this week.  Go out of your comfort zone.  You may be surprised at how exciting and enjoyable it is.

“Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, they will pour into your lap. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.” Luke 6:38

 ”KEEP GATE CLOSED”

Doesn’t this look ridiculous???  They have a gate in the middle of nowhere and it is even chained and locked shut!  Asking someone to keep the gate closed is ridiculous.  Even more crazy is someone who would stand at the gate and wonder how they would get through to the other side.  We would think they are a few french fries short of a happy meal, a brick short of a load, …

This is what Satan does in our lives.  We are walking along doing just great when he throws up a gate.  Not a fence – a gate.  He even shuts it, puts a sign on it and locks it.  Some of us stand there in disbelief as to why there is an obstacle in their way!? How are we going to keep moving in life!? What am I going to do!?

We are immobilized and stopped dead in our tracks.  And the enemy scampers away in joy knowing that we will stand there and not see that the gate isn’t keeping anything back except for us.  It is so simple to just walk a few feet around it and keep moving.  But sometimes we stay there because walking a few feet away either isn’t in our line of sight or seems just too hard.

Don’t let the enemy throw up a gate to try to stop you.  Be smarter than that! God has already won the battle.  Jesus took the keys to Hell and you have a way around.  Just keep your trust in God and know that there is always a way to keep pursuing and following Christ.

“Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ,….!”  2 Corinthians 2:14

I came across this photo a while back.  I haven’t used it until now.  It is a picture of a couple who lost their cottage in Hurricane Irene 2011.  I found it…well, sad.  Not just sad, but a little disturbing.  I understand the whole thing with “closure” that we as people feel we need, but this was sad and left me with questions.  First is the obvious:  Umm… How did they get there?  I don’t see a boat that took them there, do you?  Have they simply been sitting on the steps of their cottage since it blew away?  I doubt it – so that means they somehow got their by boat, or maybe they swam, but they look too dry to have done that….

Anyways I find it interesting because they had to physically make a decision to go back to where their cottage was and sit on the steps that obviously lead to nothing they can use.   It is pointless.  Sad, but pointless.  They can do nothing to bring back the cottage that was once there.  There is no function in what is left of the past.  It doesn’t even resemble what it once was.

So now for the obvious question:  How many times do we do this in our own past?  Maybe it is a relationship that was from the past that we always try to return too?  How about a lifestyle that isn’t where God wants us to be?  There are hurts that we often revisit for whatever reason… resentments, “feelings”…. whatever it is:  it is the past.  When we turn to God, He erases our history and rewrites it for us!  There is nothing left and even if we TRY to make something out of it there is still nothing left.  It is gone.

I’m making this year, 2012, a year that my past, present and future is changed.  What I HAD I don’t want, what I HAVE I want from God and what I’m going to OBTAIN is in Gods hands.  I am giving it all to Him – not just a little bit or a few things, I’m done trying to make life on my own terms.  I am thinking God is much better at being God then I am.  So, 2012, here’s to having nothing left to go back to! I’ve never wanted “nothing” more!