Carpe Diem & Ox [serving]

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“Be generous: invest in acts of charity. Charity yields high returns. Don’t hoard your goods; spread them around. Be a blessing to others,”
Eccl. 11:1-2

“Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was Me---you did it to Me,” Mth. 25:40

“God loves it when the giver delights in giving,”
2 Cor. 9:7.
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It started simply enough. Studying God’s word led me to ask---‘who in our hurried town needs to know the love of God can penetrate their loneliness? And next, ‘how can my boys and I be the hands of Jesus as we step into the loneliness of the ‘least of these’? I needed a very simple, yet tangible idea that was flexible enough to allow for the chaos that often ensues with young children. After kicking around several ideas, we landed on taking flowers to a nursing/rehab home.

I started these ventures when the boys were 2 ½, 2 ½ and 4. Most people told me they were too little; most people were wrong. I am grateful today for the voices that encouraged me in this venture. Honestly, I did not expect it to go as well as it did. I also never would have expected the boys to request that we continue doing this even to the present. Jesus clearly had paved the path for us. We showed up at our first nursing home, unannounced (and everyone there after!). I knew if I went through the trouble of making arrangements, inevitably something would fall through.

I figured, who’s going to turn away little boys bearing flowers? The gamble paid off; the front desk was gracious and gushing as they guided us to the wing we could visit. I had prepared the boys for some things they would see; and while they were a little reticent at first, it did not last long. We traveled room to room, handing out flowers, chatting, holding hands, singing (fortunately the residents heard our hearts!), and praying.

As the boys grew we continued to have conversations about what it means to honor God in all areas of our lives, including money. God deposits money into our hands as a test; will we use it to grow His kingdom or only our own? “Great gifts mean great responsibilities; greater gifts, greater responsibilities!” Luke 12:48. Will we really believe Him when He says our life grows larger when we give away?

I resisted having the boys tithe at church because I didn’t think they would truly grasp how their contribution mattered. I envisioned them plunking change into a basket without thought and becoming more enamored with the ritual than the reason. I wanted them to see the effect that honoring God could make on those around them, even when it was only a few dollars saved from their chores. So, they all started “God money” bags (they determined the amount) to be used to bless others. These bags were accompanied by save and spend bags.

What I found was that the boys were eager to use their money to buy the flowers. They were owning the process of giving, from start to finish. God was speaking the value of generosity right into their little lives. I remember resisting the urge to stop Wyatt one day when he wanted to use all three of his money bags for flowers. God’s word spoke to me clear as day, “Can’t I do what I want with my own money? Are you going to get stingy because I am generous?’ Mth. 20:15.

Holding tightly as we adults are prone, just never crossed their minds. Initially my gut response (thankfully I did not vocalize) was, ‘no don’t give away everything you have, you will regret that later.’ His internal response was, ‘I have everything I need and I want to share from that.’ “You can be sure that God will take care of everything you need, His generosity exceeding even yours in the glory that pours from Jesus,” Phil. 4:19-20. Perhaps children simply trust more in the ability of their earthly parents to provide for their needs than we as adults trust our Heavenly Father to do the same.

I owe inspiration for this tithing venture to a mother I’ve never even met. Mrs. Jones raised twin boys affectionately known as the “Jones oxes” (today I know them as Mike and Will). The “Jones oxes” were big boys their mother regularly sent to people’s homes for jobs requiring brute muscle. Mike casually shared one day that his mother also always encouraged he and Will to tithe from the beginning of the time they had money to call their own. So, as an adult, tithing was no struggling task. As Mike’s friend I noticed that giving spirit was no struggling task, whether it took the form of time, help, or money.

This “hold loosely to things that are fleeting and hold tightly to Jesus” mentality that a mother intentionally deposited in her young children blew me away, because I now saw the abundant harvest from those sown seeds (Stephen Curtis Chapman). I had been in many a Bible study where excuse after excuse had been generated as to why giving to God was something that godly people were unable or unwilling to do. Yet today, those Jones oxes are admirable young men with beautiful families who have eyes that can see the true value of what surrounds them. They are no strangers to living lives of service.

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this:
to look after orphans and widows in their distress…” James 1:27 (NIV).

One day the twins were away and it was just Tad and I at home. We had studied the passage in Scripture that morning about caring for the widows and orphans. He asked me what widows and orphans were. My explanation was accompanied by silent praise that these were unknowns to him. Later that day he told me he wanted to go give flowers to old people, just he and I.

After surveying the grocery store bouquets with a particularly scrutinizing eye, Tad scooped up a bouquet of tulips to accompany our traditional carnations. I explained those were going to cost more, but found he was not counting the cost as relevant to his plans. When we arrived at the nursing home he asked the front desk, “umm, who are the widows?” The lady looked puzzled and said she didn’t know. He finally revealed that he wanted to give the widows the special tulips he had bought. We agreed it may be an upsetting question to ask people we had never met, so we would just wait and see. I’m sure his little brain was spinning out of control trying to decide who he was going to give the tulips to if he couldn’t find out who the widows were.

Tad, who easily gets uncomfortable in new settings, took to these outings with a grace I had never seen in him. In casual conversations with the residents we learned that a few of the men and women were widows and I watched as each time Tad pulled a tulip from his bouquet for the widowed man or woman. I also noticed how he gave a tulip to a woman who tried very hard but was unable to communicate anything we could understand. Another tulip recipient both puzzled and warmed me; he chose a woman who was sleeping and missed our visit but was sure not to miss our intention.

The last renegade flower delivery we went on Tad and I delivered live and hand made paper flowers while the twins were visiting their Mimi. As we worked our way down the hall, we were warned to stay away from one patient’s room because he was an “angry” man. Well, that just sounded like a challenge to us. Never very good at backing down from challenges, we decided, what’s the worst that could happen, he yells at us and tells us to go away? Or, maybe the best thing, which did happen.

The “angry” man’s heart would be melted by the tenderness of two strangers (without needles), a paper flower and a white carnation. He joined us in singing Amazing Grace, quite loudly and just as off key. We saw no hint of the angry bellowing man we’d been warned of. I prayed God would keep us from ever backing down to challenges to be His light in the darkness.

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“Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth…You’re here to be light, bringing out the God colors in the world…If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you?...Shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven,” Mth. 5:13-16.

“Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out…” Heb. 10:24.

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