Giving Back
Butchering chickens, wildcrafting, soap making, pressure canning, making herbal tinctures and supertonics–I’m fascinated by these basic survival skills, but primarily, I’m a homeschooling mom who loves to write. Meaning, I’m busy already and have plenty to learn!
But to learn, one needs a teacher. Books and online resources can be excellent initiators to a subject, but nothing compares to real people and experiencing the above adventures hands-on. So you can imagine my excitement to recently discover an organic Christian CSA farmer less than ten miles from my home! He and his wife have been generously sharing these experiences with me in our less than a week long acquaintance and I’m in awe of both their knowledge and their patience and passion for sharing it with others–namely me!
In this busy world, isn’t it awe-inspiring when Christians take the time to stop and give back to one another? I know these people are supremely busy canning their fall harvest, butchering hundreds of broiler chickens and Thanksgiving turkeys for customers, plus keeping up with their livestock chores, paperwork and the full-time ministries they operate. Yet they invite me and my girls to come over “anytime” to participate and learn, and they’re overjoyed to do so.
That’s humbling.
It’s a timely reminder of why God put us here in the first place. To love other people with His kind of love. Sacrificially, unselfishly, generously and even when it’s not convenient.
Look at the story of Elijah and the widow found in 1 Kings 17:8-16. Elijah asks her for a little water and some bread, and this poor widow is barely surviving the famine…only one last “handful” of flour and oil separate her and her family from death. Yet, Elijah wants her to give from her exhausted supply, so she does. And God provides just enough more for her each day thereafter.
Like the widow, we may not feel that we have much to offer. Maybe our financial resources are depleted, or we’re overextended between family, church, and livlihoods as it is. Maybe for us, the last handful of flour represents that little bit of time we crave or want to ourselves. The key here is that the widow didn’t have much to give, yet she gave. A beautiful example of trusting obedience.
What is God asking you to give? We may not feel like we have much to offer, but as the old song goes, “Little is much when God is in it”…and believe me, the needs are out there and how else are people to experience God’s love?
“He that is faithful in a very little thing, is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.” Luke 16:10
So I’m off to wake up my children and feed them blueberry-banana pancakes–a filling breakfast to fortify us for our chicken butchering session with the neighbors at 9:30 A.M.!
May God bless you and me as we strive to live a Luke 16:10 life. Here’s to being available and faithful!
