As I have been watching Isabella’s personality and character
develop, one of the things that I have noticed is that she has a giving
heart. She absolutely LOVES to give
things to people and as I have seen this quality develop in her I have been
blessed. When it is someone’s birthday
she always wants to give something to that person, not just when it is a
birthday party that she has been invited to.
Whenever she hears that it is someone’s birthday she always wants to get
or make present for that person. Every
so often she makes things to send to her friends in other countries and often when
we go places, she makes things to give to the people we are going to see, this
is all upon her own doing. At times she
even wants to give her own toys and books away.
This year for Christmas she was so set on giving Mark and I gifts that
she got her own blankets wrapped her stuffed animals in them and set them under
the tree, I knew it would upset her if I were to take them and put them
away. So this year when it came time to
exchange gifts she was so excited to give us her gifts. If we even try to give them back to her she
gets upset. There are times that she
would like to give something of hers away that I don’t want her to, or often
times she wants me mail her books to her friends in the US and she doesn’t understand
why I can’t do this all the time. At
times I have felt as if I discouraged her in always wanting to give things
away. As I have been watching this God
given gift of giving develop in her I have been praying asking the Lord how I
could encourage her in this gift.
A couple of days ago I came across a devotion that really
spoke to my heart concerning this area.
The devotion came from my devotional called “The 100 Most Important
Bible Verses for Mothers.”
Give, and you will receive.
You will be given much. Pressed
down, shaken together, and running over, it will spill into your lap. The way you give to others is the way God will
give to you. Luke 6:38
Giving Freely
A fistful of squished yellow dandelions, a paper with a
crooked rainbow colored on it, a heart with “I love you’ penned across it –
your children are naturally giving to the ones they love. They give with great delight and affection
when they are young, and often would give away their own toys if you did not
stop them (yep, that is Isabella).
Something happens as children get older. Unless cultivated, that free spirit changes
as the child matures and learns to look at things “reasonably” and with “good
sense.” Your own giving spirit might
have shriveled in the face of adulthood, particularly when you faced the
reality of having a family to support.
Adulthood is serious business.
God’s call to you is to regain the abandonment and the joy
of giving. Instead of a careful measure
of what you think you can do, give freely and generously. God will generously give back as freely as
you give. What a promise – He will never
fail you. Proclaim your faith and trust
in God, and become like a child again, believing he will do what He said He
would. Imagine the people you can bless
when you give with God’s abandonment.
Learn to give freely and joyfully like a child again, and
God will give back to you in that same measure.
The statement in this devotion: “Unless cultivated, that
free spirit changes as the child matures and learns to look at things “reasonably”
and with “good sense” really challenged me.
I found myself asking the question
“am I cultivating this free spirit that I see in Isabella?” I would love hear how you all cultivate this
free spirit of giving in your children.
