A Cup of Generosity: October, 2022
A Cup of Generosity is a monthly letter from Pastor Dana Karen Reardon and the Grand Canyon Synod Stewardship Team. Feel free to use the posts or PDFs in congregational newsletters, sermons, programming, or any other use. View our archive page, or view our main stewardship page here.
“Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
One day my brother said to me that it felt like every time he got a few dollars ahead and was breathing a little easier then something would happen that he needed to use the money for. He said it felt like God knew he had some extra money and just wanted to take it. I don't know, maybe he was afraid that God thought he would get too comfortable. Maybe he just thought God was against him.
But so much of our understanding of life is all about perception and not just about the facts. He wasn't wrong, he had a little extra money and then something happened. But I suggested that he look at it a different way.
What I said to him was maybe you've got it all backwards; maybe God knew that something was going to happen that you would need the extra money and so found a way to provide it for you in advance. Maybe God wasn't trying to take things from you. Maybe God was just looking out for you.
I don't know if it's popular anymore, but there was a time when therapists were using something called narrative therapy. They would have a client recall the stories from their life but then tell the story a little differently and it made all the difference. A lot of new people to the faith do that on their own. They see God in their life and how God has been leading and guiding them and providing for them even when they did not know or acknowledge it. It changes their memories and the way they understand their past and therefore their present and their future.
Perhaps this habit should not just be for those new to the faith but for all of us. We should look to see what God is doing in our lives but with the knowledge that God isn't out to get us but God is there to guide us, comfort us, perhaps sometimes to challenge us but always to be leading us in the right direction and caring for us along the way.
It's so much easier to be generous when we understand this. When we know that someone is loving and caring and giving toward us makes it easier to do the same for others.
My prayer for all of us is that we will daily look to see what God is up to and rejoice in the fact that we get to be a part of it, that we get to be some of the people who further God's Kingdom on this earth.
