on blessing and being blessed
a picture of giving to God
today i went to my uncle paul's and aunt julie's. my mom and i have been in sacramento since last thursday, i've been fixing people's computers (my grandmother's and my aunt sarah's). my aunt julie had let my dad know that she needed some help with her computer. she had to do a report for her school (she's a teacher) and have it in by Monday the 14th (that's tomorrow). it required a somewhat complicated process of downloading a program from a poorly designed website (the california public school system's website, it was poorly made. if you're on that webteam and you're reading this, re-design it! keep in mind, teachers are not all so computer savvy--viz. spell it out clearly), installing the program (a poorly built program, i might add, looks like some amateur wrote it in visual basic), and then filling it out.
Well, this was way over my aunt's head...I couldn't even find where to download the program from the URL they gave us! The document she had said "The program can be obtained from the following address", then they gave us a web address...Well we went there but I couldn't find it. I ended up going to the home page of the site and typing in the name of the program in the search box. Well after we finally found it I downloaded it, installed it and she filled it out, it was rather simple after that. But it was a BIG burden off her shoulders...it had to be done by the next day and she had tried to do it and also tried to get help from another teacher but all her efforts had been in vain. But I helped her complete it and get it done. She was so relieved. I also helped her by cleaning up her computer and getting rid of spyware and viruses etc that collect on every computer running Windows that isn't constantly looked after.
They fed me dinner and wanted to hear of my recent trip to Indonesia. I enjoyed telling them and getting caught up. Well before dinner my uncle handed me an envelope with some money in it to express their gratitude. They insisted I keep it though I didn't think it necessary. When I got home I opened it up...one $10, one $5, and four $1s. That's $19. Now, they are doing fine financially and could have easily spared $20. Or they could have easily just given me $10 or $15 and made it an even amount. What I gather from this is that they gave me all they had--all the cash they had on hand. I never keep much cash on hand, they must be like me. But see, if they had one more $10, or one more $5 or one more $1, they most likely would have given it to me and made an even amount...but they didn't have it on hand. They gave me all they had to show the extent of their gratitude to me for helping my aunt out of this bind and taking this huge weight off her shoulders.
It reminds me of the widow giving her two mites. She gave all she had because of how grateful she was to God.
Or, a better fit example: It's like when a missionary comes to speak at your church and you didn't know he was going to be there. He talks about the ministry he is involved in and it tugs at your heart strings. Your pastor comes up and announces that an offering will be taken for the missionary and his ministry. You want to give a lot but you look in your wallet and you find four $1s...hmmm, not much. But you put it all in the basket as it is passed around, you gave all you could. Of course, if you knew the missionary was coming before you got to church and you knew of the powerful ministry he was involved in you could have stopped by the bank and taken money out to offer up, but you didn't, you could only give that which you had on you. You gave it out of thankfulness to the Father of what He was doing in this ministry through this missionary.
My aunt and uncle's expression of gratitude to me reminds me of how we should express our gratitude to the Father--we should give Him all we have. How thankful are you that He rescued you from the grasp of Hell, forgave even your filthiest sin, gave you eternal life, and made you a citizen of Heaven? Give back to Him relative to how thankful you are.
Well, this was way over my aunt's head...I couldn't even find where to download the program from the URL they gave us! The document she had said "The program can be obtained from the following address", then they gave us a web address...Well we went there but I couldn't find it. I ended up going to the home page of the site and typing in the name of the program in the search box. Well after we finally found it I downloaded it, installed it and she filled it out, it was rather simple after that. But it was a BIG burden off her shoulders...it had to be done by the next day and she had tried to do it and also tried to get help from another teacher but all her efforts had been in vain. But I helped her complete it and get it done. She was so relieved. I also helped her by cleaning up her computer and getting rid of spyware and viruses etc that collect on every computer running Windows that isn't constantly looked after.
They fed me dinner and wanted to hear of my recent trip to Indonesia. I enjoyed telling them and getting caught up. Well before dinner my uncle handed me an envelope with some money in it to express their gratitude. They insisted I keep it though I didn't think it necessary. When I got home I opened it up...one $10, one $5, and four $1s. That's $19. Now, they are doing fine financially and could have easily spared $20. Or they could have easily just given me $10 or $15 and made it an even amount. What I gather from this is that they gave me all they had--all the cash they had on hand. I never keep much cash on hand, they must be like me. But see, if they had one more $10, or one more $5 or one more $1, they most likely would have given it to me and made an even amount...but they didn't have it on hand. They gave me all they had to show the extent of their gratitude to me for helping my aunt out of this bind and taking this huge weight off her shoulders.
It reminds me of the widow giving her two mites. She gave all she had because of how grateful she was to God.
Or, a better fit example: It's like when a missionary comes to speak at your church and you didn't know he was going to be there. He talks about the ministry he is involved in and it tugs at your heart strings. Your pastor comes up and announces that an offering will be taken for the missionary and his ministry. You want to give a lot but you look in your wallet and you find four $1s...hmmm, not much. But you put it all in the basket as it is passed around, you gave all you could. Of course, if you knew the missionary was coming before you got to church and you knew of the powerful ministry he was involved in you could have stopped by the bank and taken money out to offer up, but you didn't, you could only give that which you had on you. You gave it out of thankfulness to the Father of what He was doing in this ministry through this missionary.
My aunt and uncle's expression of gratitude to me reminds me of how we should express our gratitude to the Father--we should give Him all we have. How thankful are you that He rescued you from the grasp of Hell, forgave even your filthiest sin, gave you eternal life, and made you a citizen of Heaven? Give back to Him relative to how thankful you are.
posted by Elias at 23:35
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