Mary and I were just outside of Cheyenne, Wyoming on our way to Casper when Mary spotted a sign for a Starbucks. “Let’s stop. I’ll buy!”
The offer from Mary was spontaneous, genuine… and then humorous. The Starbucks card that Mary planned on using when we made the stop was a card that I had given her a couple of years ago. It’s one of the cards that allows you to periodically add funds to your “coffee balance.” I had done just that three weeks before our trip. Without being ungrateful, I looked at Mary and reminded her of the fact that the “buying” that she was going to do was a product of the “investing” that I had done. There was something about the moment that made us both laugh.
But this reality sat on my mind like a broken down car on the side of the road.
Mary had offered back to me the opportunity to participate in something that I had entrusted to her. She had full sway over the direction of these assets. They were hers to dispense. So when she gave them back, they had more meaning, not less.
In that moment I experienced a miniscule sense of what God, our Father, feels when we open handedly give back to Him what He so generously has lavished on us. When we serve, and give, and love, and show compassion, and weep with those who weep, and rejoice at the goodness of our God… we are buying a cup of coffee with the funds the Father has put into our account. And remarkably, it brings God joy.
“Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” ~ 2 Corinthians 9:7
You buy. And when you do, there is delight for our Father.
My card; His resources. Live generously.
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