We Have, So We Give

“If you can’t feed a hundred people, then just feed one.” ~Mother Teresa

When I first met my sweet hubby, J, I fell hard for his beautiful heart. He hardly had two pennies to his name, but he had a heart of pure gold, and I was just plain smitten. He also had the tendency to always run late–like really, really late–and I did not love this tendency so much. Let’s just say it wasn’t my favorite. One night in particular, God used both J’s heart and his penchant for being late to teach me a very valuable lesson that both humbled and profoundly changed me in an instant.

It was a particularly cold November night, and I was dressed to the nines for our date night–red lipstick, heels, and all. I got a text that J was running a few minutes late, but he would be there in fifteen minutes. No biggie. I was used to this. But an hour later there was still no sign of him. At that point, he wasn’t even picking up his phone or responding to my texts. I was equal parts worried and frustrated. Seriously…how rude! It was then that I happened to glance out my window and notice his car was parked right in front of my building, but he wasn’t inside it.

Where was he?

How long had he been there?

Why wasn’t he responding to my calls and texts?

What was going on?

I stubbornly waited another few minutes before my curiosity got the best of me. I slipped on my coat, made sure my I am not happy with you, mister face was in place, and reached for the door. As I charged outside, I walked into the middle of a scene I was not expecting.

There was J, talking to a perfect stranger while pulling out half the contents of his trunk and handing her each item. I stood there, baffled, confused, and cold. Did I mention how bitter cold it was that night? They were in the middle of a deep conversation, so I just stood to the side and awkwardly watched.

I watched as J took off his hat, gloves, and coat and helped the woman put them on. Finally, he wrapped a blanket around her, filled her arms with a variety of other items, and they parted ways.

Dear friends, I so wish I could say that was the moment I was humbled and understood the beauty I had just witnessed, but I’d be lying to you. Instead, I looked at my nearly bare boyfriend as he stood there shivering, and all I could say was, “Why did you give her all that stuff?”

Can I just be brutally honest for a moment? It literally pains me to write this. Oh. how. selfish.

His answer was simple: “She was cold and hungry.”

We spent the rest of the evening talking about everything, and he joyfully told me how he had spent an hour talking with the woman, hearing her story, and learning how she had recently become homeless and wasn’t prepared for this cold weather. Each item J gave her had a purpose:  his emergency blanket, to keep her warm; a knapsack filled with non-perishable food, to keep her belly full; a travel bible, to feed her soul.

My heart soared with pride and adoration for him, but I still didn’t fully get it. Even after hearing the whole story, there was one part that bothered me.

“I understand why you gave her most of the items, but why your hat, gloves, and coat?” I asked. “Wasn’t the blanket enough? That was your only hat, your only pair of gloves, and your only coat! How will you stay warm?”

He said gently, “Sarah, I can get more tomorrow, but she needed them today.”

That beautiful man literally gave the clothes off his back to serve another when he himself didn’t have a dollar to spare–all while I stood back and watched from my place of entitlement and abundance, me with a closet brimming with extra scarves, hats, and coats that would have been just her size.

That moment.

That phrase. She needed them today.

It forever changed me.

I was looking at giving all wrong. I saw J’s hat, gloves, and coat and thought, he doesn’t have any extra to give, while J looked at them and thought, I have, so I give. He didn’t need any extra to feed God’s people; he just needed what God had already provided.

I am humbled anew each time I recall this story. I had abundance and didn’t share. I saw true need and didn’t move. I questioned how much was given when I wasn’t even paying the cost. My selfish heart was exposed, laid bare, and I had a choice to make. Would I continue to just give my extra or would I give my all when God called?

We all will be faced with this question eventually, because God calls each one of us to feed His sheep purely out of our love for Him (John 21:17).

I know it can be overwhelming to figure out where to start or how to serve, but as Mother Teresa once said, “If you can’t feed a hundred people, then just feed one.” That’s what J did, and look how it forever changed me–and I was just the awkward onlooker with a bad attitude. When we feed God’s people, we never really know how far the ripple of our kindness will travel. But one thing is for sure: the people touched by that ripple will be forever changed.

Lord, I pray that you will expose any selfishness in our hearts this week. Help us to see what we have been given, and show us how we can use what we already have to help feed Your sheep. May we meet the needs of Your people without thinking about the cost. Amen.

Scripture for Reflection

“The third time he said to him, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, ‘Do you love me?’

He said, ‘Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.’

Jesus said, ‘Feed my sheep.’”  John 21:17 (NIV)

Reach for More

This week’s challenge is to feed one of God’s sheep. Pray and ask God to lead you to someone who is spiritually or physically hungry. Meet their need. Whether it’s dropping off a bag of groceries on a struggling family’s doorstep, visiting with a lonely friend who is hungry for time, or anything in between. Give what you have in order to satisfy someone’s hunger.

Dear friends, you can do this. We have, so we give. Be courageous, and remember that one small act of love is so much greater than none at all.

Please, come back and leave a comment telling us about how God spoke to you this week, or share your progress on social media using the hashtag #tgtreachformore. We would love to hear from you.

Sarah Lundgren has a passion for all things sparkly, loves God with her whole heart, and is known to love Starbucks chai lattes a whole lot, too. Sarah is currently snuggled in the heart of Grand Rapids, Michigan with her sweet hubby, J, and her full-time job is making pretty things all day long for her Etsy business, so sarah designs, but she also loves writing devotional content here at The Glorious Table.

Photograph by H. Bieser, used with permission