Well, I've been reading that Bible again. And I've been thinking a lot lately about giving and service (and ice cream). I read a verse in Luke that I really like:
"Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you." -Luke 6:38
This verse makes me think of the way I bake. I pack the brown sugar so tightly into the measuring cup that I can barely dump it into the mixing bowl. I pour vanilla extract very liberally, letting it run over the sides of the teaspoon until I basically double the amount required in the recipe. When making my favorite strawberry rhubarb crumble, I get to a point where I just stop measuring the sugar altogether and sprinkle big handfuls of it over the dish (really, rhubarb is better with a lot of sugar). Yes, I know baking is supposed to be an exact science. The ingredients won't work together properly if you don't use the correct amounts. But, for the record, I have never had complaints about my baking. Everything tastes better with extra vanilla!
It also makes me think about the way I eat ice cream. I know a serving of ice cream is half a cup. So I get the half-cup out and start scooping spoonfuls of ice cream into it. Then I start cramming it in. Then I end up creating a little mound on the top of the measuring cup. And I probably eat two or three extra spoonfuls in the process of transferring it into a bowl. In the end, my half-cup of ice cream turns into about a cup and a half. (This is why I don't usually keep ice cream in my freezer.)
So... which bowl of ice cream would you rather have-- the one I "measured" using my half-cup, overflowing with extra peanut butter cups and thick pieces of fudge ribbon? (Yes, I dig around through the container to get all the good stuff.) Or one like what I would have served you when I worked at an ice cream store-- carefully weighed and measured, with nothing in there that you didn't pay for?
I call dibs on the first one.
Isn't that what giving should be like? Giving time, giving money, giving whatever-- when you give to others, when you serve others, you're serving the Lord. Doesn't that make you want to put in the extra vanilla, or dig around through the ice cream carton to find all the best parts for Him? And when you do that-- when you give more, generously, He will do the same for you!
"For with the measure you use, it will be given back to you..."
Yes! And sometimes I find myself being too comfortable with my giving and service. I want to give as long as it doesn't really effect my time/resources. Or I want to serve as long as it is "comfortable" for me. Where as if I just trust God's vision and follow His plan (rather than the recipe I have in my head), my uncomfortableness will lead me straight into His arms of guidance for His glory.
ReplyDeleteI love how you make me think about my own spiritual journey!
Yes! We are so unwilling to give and serve when it means getting out of our little boxes. I'm extremely guilty of this! It's so much easier to just keep serving in our usual ways instead of actually listening for His call and doing something new...
ReplyDelete