"The generous soul will be made rich, and he who waters will also be watered himself." Proverbs 11:25
 

Our God is a lavish giver. Surrounding our earth are whole galaxies too far off to measure. The earth itself is splashed with such abundance that no mind can fully grasp its color, variety and sheer magnificence. But God's greatest gift—the unspeakable gift—was that of His Son given for you and me.

Since the Father has such a giving heart, He expects His sons and daughters to behave likewise and reveals an eternal principle that is at odds with the selfish thinking of the world. God tells us, in effect, to feed others so that we can be fat and to give drink to others so that our thirst can be quenched.
 

That's weird to a world-view that says, "Get all you can, hang on to it and grab more." But they leave out the supernatu­ral "God equation" that has the Lord Himself caring for those who care for others.
 

Let God make you a liberal giver—not just in money but also in time and goods. The New Testament does not order us to give, because God wants it to come from a cheerful heart. Even under law, the Israelites gave the Lord one apple out of ten.
 

Ask the Lord, "How much and who to?" It's thrilling—just the blessing of advancing the Kingdom. After all, someone once said, "Money is like manure. If you heap it up it stinks like crazy, but if you spread it out it does a lot of good."
 

Do the same with your time, spending more of it on others and less on self. And try something. Instead of cleaning the closets for a garage sale, try just giv­ing all that stuff to people who need it. The Lord has interesting ways to fatten and water those sheep who live to nurture others and not just them­selves.

 
My prayer: "My Father, everything I own is a trust from You. So, I want You to be able to trust me to be liberal in my giving, so I can receive life's greatest reward—Your pleasure!

"Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ" (I Corinthians 11:1)
The ST. PAUL SCHOOL, with Frank Eiklor, Eileen Young and Cecilia Contreras