Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.” Luke 6:38 NLT

Recently my girls, that’s Pam and my two youngest daughters, went Christmas shopping. In the food court, Mel ordered a pretzel. Several of the employees acted new and were moving in slouth mode. After 10 minutes, still no pretzel. I took over for the waiting while the girls continued to shop.

I was in no hurry, I wasn’t shopping with the girls at the moment, so I waited patiently while standing in the vicinity of the check out. After another 10 minutes, one of the guys called me to come to the counter, He apologized for my long wait and offered me some food that was already prepared, I took a cup and moved back to wait. After another 10 minutes, the pretzel was complete. The manager asked if Mel had ordered 1 or 2. I said “just one.” “Are you sure?” he asked. “Well, I’m going to give the other one to you anyway.” I could see the stress of endless customers. “Here, this is some extra money for a tip to share with all of your workers”. He smiled, made a call to the other guys and put the money in the tip cup which was empty up to that point. We had paid for one item and walked away with three. It was befitting to bless those boys.

The back story. As we were approaching the mall while driving in the car together, we felt impressed to engage in a spirit of prayer for the area, the people, the churches and the businesses. We prayed that God would allow business to prosper and prayed blessings over the employees. We thanked God for the faithfulness of churches and asked that more people would hear the message of Jesus. We asked for grace and mercy for the impact of COVID to lift. We prayed for the family and friends to experience peace who had been directly impacted by loss from COVID. We prayed blessing toward the direction of our shopping.

Tis the season of GIVING – At its core Christmas is about Giving

  • For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. The remembrance of Jesus’ birth is to acknowledge that God saw our helpless condition and gave.
  • The Innkeeper gave a stable for the birth of Jesus. The scriptures indicate that it was hard to find any place for room and shelter, because of the forced travel to pay taxes. That was not a holiday. Don’t think poorly of the Innkeeper for only giving a stable, it’s possible they were rejected totally by many people before his generosity. His compassion of the stable gets him a worldwide continual honorable mention in the Christmas story.
  • The heavenly host of Angels gave the first message of “Peace on earth and goodwill toward men”. They sang to the Shepherds who were taking the graveyard shift at night that Jesus the savior was born on that that day.
  • The Star of Bethlehem in the sky gave direction to the wise men from the east. Yes, it was probably later when they arrived, but the star was the sign of nature giving direction to find Jesus.
  • The wise men gave gifts to Jesus. Yes, men can show up with good things to give at a baby shower. Those extra resources were provided just in time for Jesus and his family to escape to Egypt.

Ask it shall be given to you. Starting now and into the new year, ask for a spirit of giving to fall fresh upon your life. Giving begets giving. It’s not always apples to apples, but it will always spur on abundance. 

One child can give a look and smiles erupt on many faces. I truly believe that our “Giving God” will prompt you with multiple opportunities to give or share with others.  If you ask God, He will impress upon your heart different ways to love on other people through giving.  

Give. It doesn’t have to be expensive, just thoughtful. It doesn’t have to be “too much”. You don’t get more points for “overdoing it”. It’s not giving tit for tat. You don’t give just so that you will get.

Ask God to help you be even more creative in sharing the good news that Jesus loves You. Jesus is the most important gift given to mankind. He is worth sharing with others. Tis the season of Giving

Blessings Love y’all