Greedy Grumpy [stingy]

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“Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity. Stinginess impoverishes,” Mrk. 4:25.
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I’m always hunting for visual reminders of how to impart lessons for myself and my boys. A picture speaks volumes to a heart when words sometimes fall on infertile soil. Greediness and holding tightly to what God entrusts us is a problem for all of humanity, especially visible in children by their posturing. I noticed one day how Tad was holding tightly to a hand full of Thomas trains in an effort to keep them away from his brothers. I noticed how tense he was and how small he became as he pulled the trains into himself. “The world of the generous gets larger and larger; the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller,” Prov. 11:24. God’s scripture couldn’t have called it any more accurately.

So we talked about this verse and the boys and I came up with a phrase and gesture spoken regularly around the DiDio house, ‘greedy grumpy or grateful giving hearts and hands, you choose?” Or, you might just see me motioning the symbol which my boys all know well and is a piercing reminder of what God calls us to without uttering one word. God’s desire is for us to release our strangle hold on our possessions so that He may fill us. When we are determined to hold tightly to all that is entrusted to us, how can we possibly hold on to God?

The drawing pictured is William’s creation. He was enjoying peaches a family friend shared with us last summer when I mentioned, ‘that sure was generous of the Watts to share those peaches with us, wasn’t it?’ William decided to make a thank you card. His illustration perfectly indicated that the lessons of ‘grateful giving or greedy grumpy’ from God’s Word were taking root in his little heart.

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“When you grab all you can get, that’s what happens; the more you get, the less you are,”

Prov. 1:19.

“Sinners are always wanting what they don’t have; the God-loyal are always giving what they do have,” Prov. 21:26.
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