Born to Give

“Giving is what we do best.” Eugene Peterson. I am setting outside with Molly, our dog; it is probably the last night we will spend together. See, a tumor formed in her and now is taking over, she had a couple of strokes this morning and is struggling just to walk. We got her when I was home on R & R in the middle of 2009, Abby had picked out her sister, and we chose the wrong dog, (truth is she was the exact dog we needed). She lived with me in Texas, and Berry Clark got her addicted to Bacon. She was my constant companion when I would make trips back and forth from Texas. It’s hard to believe how a dog can become so much of your history, so much of your life. One thing that truly defines Molly’s life is her giving nature. I guess that is what dogs are meant to do. Love, Protect and Give.

Maybe that is what we were born to do also. Many people come to me looking for hope, purpose and a divine calling. Maybe, you’re calling is to give of yourself to others. Not expecting anything in return, just to give. I know the difference that it has made in the lives that served with us on the streets. Maybe that is why so many people don’t experience joy in their lives. They are too busy acquiring, getting, and taking care of themselves and their needs that they forgot how to give.

As the hours go by I pulled out a book that I bought a while back and started reading it. It is called “Running with Horses” by Eugene Peterson. On page 44 of his book, he describes some birds on a cliff teaching their children what they were born to do… For a while the waited patiently for their parents to arrive, mouths open wide, waiting to be fed.

Peterson writes, “This went on for a couple of hours until the parents decided they had had enough of it. One of the adults swallows got alongside the branch—pushing, pushing, pushing. The end one fell off. Somewhere between the branch and the water four feet below, the wings started working, and the fledgling was off on his own. Then the second one. The third was not to be bullied. At the last possible moment, his grip on the branch loosened just enough so that he swung downward, then tightened again, bulldog tenacious. The parent was without sentiment. He pecked at the desperately clinging talons until it was more painful for the poor chick to hang on than risk the insecurities of flying. The grip was released, and the inexperienced wings began pumping. The mature swallow knew what the chick did not—that it would fly—that there was no danger in making it do what it was perfectly designed to do.

Birds have feet and can walk. Birds have talons and can grasp a branch securely. They can walk; they can cling. But flying is their characteristic action, and not until they fly are they living at their best. Gracefully and beautifully.”

Giving is what we do best. After all, God gave His only son that we could live forever with him. We are not happy because we do not give and it isn’t until we give do we find happiness. Just like Molly, our time is limited. I think for a dog, she had a good life; she lived giving love to all who came into our home.

So many people are searching for happiness when it is right under their noses. Learn to give… “God gave us himself. He also gives away everything that is. He makes no exceptions for any of us. We are given away to our families, to our neighbors, to our friends, to our enemies—to the nations. Our life is for others. That is the way creation works. Some of us try desperately to hold on to ourselves, to live for ourselves. We look so bedraggled and pathetic doing it, afraid of risk ourselves on the untried wings of giving. We don’t think we can live generously because we have never tried. But the sooner we start, the better, for we are going to have to give up our lives (just like Molly) finally, and the longer we wait, the less time we have for the soaring and swooping life of Grace.

The most important thing you can do is give your life to Christ and let Him teach you how to live a life of giving. One day you will be gone, and the only thing that will be left is the memories that others have of you… what legacy of giving will your leave?