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To Bless

             The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:1-3)

The main thing God gets out of your life is not the achievements you accomplish. It's the person you become. (Dallas Willard)

I found a penny in the grocery store. On the way out the door, one of several kids said, “You wanna donate?”

I said, “No, thank you.”

When I got to the truck, I found two more pennies on the ground, and a challenge. It was only three cents. It wasn’t worth walking back to the store entrance on my achy feet/lets just to donate three cents. But would I do it? I wasn’t happy about it, but I went back. What sort of lousy blessing was three cents?

As I got back to my truck, my thoughts went to my blessing. Grumble, grumble. Then I thought of the concept described in the quote of Dallas Willard above. I didn’t quote him, or even quite paraphrase him. It was the idea that the blessing I received for walking back and giving that kid three cents was the blessing of becoming the sort of person God wants me to be. When I’m not being a grouch, it’s the kind of person I want to be – the sort of person who blesses rather than the sort of person who decides that a blessing isn’t worth giving.

Could I have given more? Yes, but that wasn’t the point. The point was giving. And if that’s not enough of a lesson, the big part of my grocery trip was to buy fruit for a “Royal Fruit Salad” for the Memorial Day picnic at work. Honeydew, strawberries, oranges, and pineapple aren’t cheap. Grumble, grumble. And the question rises in my mind: aren’t my coworkers worth it? Many of them are people with whom I’m proud to be associated. Should I resent spending money to bless them? Maybe next year, I don’t pick this salad, but it always seems as if what I pick costs “too much.”  Grumble, grumble. But when I see other folks bringing a bag of pretzels, I know I wouldn’t like myself if I brought something that was within the five-dollar price range that seems to be my idea of “pot luck” pricing. I don’t mean to judge them in their choices. I just suspect I would grumble at myself no matter what I chose to bring. Time to pray about my attitude and to consider whether I’d rather be the person who is willing to be inconvenienced to bless and made more like Jesus, or who only blesses when everything is “just right” or I feel like it.

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