Bigger Picture Moments: On Generosity

"It seemed like they brought everything but the kitchen sink.

One by one, bag by bag, tool by tool, my mom, step dad and step brothers carried everything we’d need for a weekend of replacing our kitchen and laundry room floors into our home late Friday evening.


No detail was spared in the project — from the perfect-colored matching grout to the precisely placed porcelain tiles that took hours lay out. Nor was anything overlooked for the caring of the people — my mother came prepared with enough food to feed an army via crockpot and skillet, disposable plates and buckets for washing utensils.

And all of it — the materials for the floor, the time and talent of laying the floor, the food — gifted to us in a loving act of generosity.

This just days after John’s dad and our contractor friend offered to take out a wall to help the floor-laying process go more smoothly.

By Sunday morning before I left for church, I looked around my house ..."

To read the rest of this story, head over to the Immanuel Church blog.

Thinking, That's All: Giving

We've been talking lately about generosity in our house and what that really looks like, conversations inspired by a series at church, Living a Generous Life.

And at first, I think we thought we were way more generous than we actually are.

I mean, we give consistently, and we give joyfully

but of our money mostly.

So while we've discovered our palms are largely open with giving our money, we've also come to realize we aren't very generous with our other resources -- the ones that we feel, perhaps, are much more precious.


Namely, for me especially, time.Maybe because time is what seems most fleeting, most like it's constantly slipping through my fingers

As I was working on a visual for church about generosity and giving, I kept going back to that image of the open palms.

A wise mentor once shared that trying to hold onto those fleeting precious treasures is a lot like trying to grab water  and bring enough to our lips to quench deep thirst;

it's impossible to do.

But that's not the only thing that clenched fists make impossible.

When we hold too tightly to anything,we also aren't open to receiving renewing fulfillment either -- whatever is poured out can't be caught by tightly bound fists.

And plus. We haven't been given much to keep it all to ourselves.

We've been given much so we can spread the wealth around

with palms open wide and hearts full of thanksgiving.