Today is day two of 25 days of giving. Day one was a bit lackluster. Boo and I had grand ideas to swipe Jay’s plan to give donuts and coffee to the construction workers building a home next door. Our plans fell apart. I wasn’t discouraged though. My first year doing 25 days, which was 2 years ago, I ran on my own steam. I committed to the task and, by golly, I was going to see it through. I had forgotten one critical part, asking God to come along. Last year I’m pretty sure I invited Him on my journey but I firmly held the wheel. This year, I felt lead to hand over the keys and hop into the passenger seat. As plans fell apart yesterday, Boo and I prayed that God honor our desire to do for others, that He give us eyes to see the need and courage and strength to meet it. With that, I let go.
This morning I had to run to the Meijer to grab some fruit for Jack’s hockey team. My heart was light and my spirit was soaring because I had just come from Jaysi’s where we had a great chat and some awesome prayer. I decided that I was going to buy a $10 gift card and hand it to whoever got in line behind me. As the checkout lady was ringing the card up, my heart started to pound. Who knew this giving stuff could be so exhilarating? A nicely dressed woman and perhaps her daughter began unloading groceries behind mine. I took the card from the checkout lady and turned to the woman behind me. When I am about to do this kind of thing, the doubtful thoughts try to creep in: What if she gets offended? What if she doesn’t need any help paying for her groceries? What if she just doesn’t understand what I’m doing? No way, Jose! I was not going to fall prey to that nonsense. I was going to give that card and not worry about the response.
I said to the woman “I’m practicing 25 days of giving and today I decided to give whoever got in line behind me a $10 gift card so here you go.” She just looked at me completely stunned. She said that she was just saying that she was over-budget and wasn’t sure how she was going to pay for all of her stuff. She was so overwhelmed. The absolute BEST part was that I was able to let her know that is was God who put her in the line behind me and that it was He who wanted to help her that day. She grabbed me in a big hug and praised God right there.
In His infinite wisdom and awesome ability to do ANYTHING He wants, He matched me with the person who needed to see Him today. He was able to confirm her faith and show her love and care through me. I was merely a vessel and I could not be happier to be just that. My greatest prayer is that, not just the next 23 days, but everyday of my life goes more and more like this.
