Giving More Than Crumbs

I was scrambling to get ready for work. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my children get on the school bus. Two minutes later I saw Annie from next door running toward the bus stop.

Poor Annie. My heart ached. I’d have to tell her she’d missed the bus. I should tell her that I’d take her to school. But the school was three miles in the opposite direction and I was already running late for work.

My mind reeled. I could afford to be twenty minutes late for work. Or could I? If Annie’s dad, who worked second shift and slept late, had to get up and take her to school she’d get a tongue-lashing all the way. I’d heard him yelling at his children many times. But should I interfere in their family problems?

In the end, the selfish chicken in me won out. I let Annie solve her own dilemma and went to work.

That evening, getting ready for a meeting at church, I remembered I was supposed to bring food for the Human Concerns kitchen for the needy. I pulled some canned goods from my overflowing cupboard and tossed them into a bag.

On the way to church I thought, How much of a sacrifice is it for me to give up that food? Most of it is stuff I’ve had on my shelves for months. Who likes canned lima beans anyway? Then I thought about Annie. Taking her to school would have been much more of a sacrifice and a better solution to her struggle than my tossing a few canned goods into a box for the needy. Why can’t you be more giving, more considerate of others in a more personal way? I asked myself.

Have you ever been guilty of giving just the crumbs of your excess? From now on, let’s both try harder to give to others until we can actually feel the loss, and then the redemption, ourselves.