Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: Rich (04/26/12)
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TITLE: Just Take the Flowers, Lady | Previous Challenge Entry
By Helen Carr
05/03/12 -
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Having heard an inspiring message about random acts of kindness, she thought she would sieze the day and put the Pastor's words into actions whilst out on a shopping trip.
She somewhat nervously walked to the flowers adorning the front of the supermarket and chose a friendly-looking boquet, bound to brighten anyone's day. Then she stood and waited for the God-appointed recipient to catch her eye. Before long a dear old lady shuffled past, her arms barely able to push her heavily-laden trolley across the shiny tiled floor. "Aha!" Mum sprinted into action, dazzling smile in place, eager to experience the rush of joy that would be incited by the tears of gratitude pouring down her age-lined face.
"Excuse me, but I would love for you to take these, just as a gesture . . . of . . . um . . ." The little old lady mustn't have heard her, as she seemed to speed up a little. Mum tried again, putting on her best it's-okay-I'm-not-going-to-hurt-you smile.
"Excuse me, but I just wanted to bless you with a gift of . . ." What was this lady's problem?! She was practically running at this point. Finally mum managed to catch up to her, panting slightly at her sudden burst of exercise. Her head was screaming, "Will you just take the flowers?!" but she managed to keep her emotions in check.
"I (puff) would be (pant) so pleased if you (puff) would take these as a gesture of (pant) kindness." By now the dazzling smile was more of a grimace. The lady barely stopped as she snatched the slightly bedraggled flora from mum's hand, threw them on top of her shopping and continued on her way without so much as a thank you.
Recalling my mum's sad tale of the unwanted daisies causes me to think on the whole idea of giving and receiving. We all know that the bible says we should be generous and cheerful givers, but why is it so important. And what, if anything, does God's Word say about our attitude towards receiving?
In 2 Corinthians 8:1-8 Paul writes of the actions of the churches in Macedonia. Coming under intense pressure, and suffering all kinds of attack and testing they kept God's kingdom and the Apostles first and foremost in their hearts. They knew that through their giving the Kingdom of God would be furthered here on earth, and that it was an act of God's kindness that allowed them to do so,
They made an appeal to us, begging us to let them participate in the ministry of God’s kindness to his holy people in Jerusalem. 2 Cor 8:4
Imagine how they would have felt if the Apostles in Jerusalem had responded in this manner,
"Yeah, look thanks for the kind offer, but we really can't take your money and food! We'll find a way, somehow, to get through; we'll just keep praying for a miracle."
Not only would the Apostles be unable to continue in building Christ's kingdom through all of Judea and Samaria, but it would have taken from the Macedonian followers the joy they experienced via being a blessing, possibly crushing their spirits and causing them to be overcome by their persecutors.
The same could be said today of us, should we choose to refuse the help of a friend or member of our Church. There is no shame in accepting the assistance of another, yet we often feel as if there's some unwritten social law that says we should be self-sufficient. Well, from what I have read in the Bible, we can achieve very little being self-sufficient, and I believe it's the lie of the enemy that says we should 'suck it up' and deal with our circumstances alone. Self-sufficiency is really a fancy way of saying pride; and pride is nothing more than a thief robbing the giver of their blessing from God.
How about today, if someone offers to bless us, we don't allow pride to rob them of their joy - let's choose to reach out and "just take the flowers."
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Well written, love it!
Great illustration of the woman running from the flowers. We should never have to chase down possible recipients of our gifts.
Excellent job with this.
God Bless~
"but why is it so important." The ? mark is missing and in this paragraph you ask two questions. You then go on to answer the questions, but I struggled for awhile to see that you were answering those questions.
I'm not sure of my ground here, but for me, the transition from a funny, but potent, story to an important message wasn't as smooth as it could have been.
But none the less a great message that is well told.
I've got a picture in my mind that the flowers would be bashed and broken when the old lady got them home - and mumbling away she would have stuff them in the trash can.
Though it may not be the typical type of rich we think of, I still see the topic in this piece. I know personally because of my health problems that it blesses others to help me. In return there have been times where I was the one offering to help a friend. I was crushed when she turned by offer down. I looked her in the eye and firmly said if you don't except this token, I'll no longer ask you to watch my daughter when I'm in the hospital. She was shocked at first but as I explained, especially with my illness, I don't have a lot of opportunities do do for others and did she really want to rob me of the joy of being the giver instead of the receiver. So many people don't quite get that concept and I thank you for bringing it to the forefront!