It
was clean up time. Connor was told
to clean up his toys in the sunroom and he was sitting on the floor whining
about it. He begged me to help him
because it was “too hard” (a task that would literally take 30 seconds). Connor said there were too many toys to
clean up. My ingenious response to
him was that if he had too many toys to clean up then maybe we needed to give
some away. Of course my intent was
to motivate him to refuse and then quickly clean them up. Instead, he said, “Okay Mommy, I want
to give my toys to children who don’t have any.” Uh oh, I wasn’t prepared for that response. However, I thought his sentiment would
pass in time so I got a big container and told him to put whatever toys in it
that he wanted to give away. To my
surprise, he put almost all of his super hero toys and play-sets in the
container. Wait a second (I
thought), those were the toys we just bought him last Christmas – the ones he
absolutely loves (and the ones I was thinking of saving in the attic for his
kids one day). You see, I had
plans for those toys. There was
something inside of me that opposed this giving away of his favorite toys (or
maybe my favorites?) However, I
knew there was a lesson to be found and that I needed to be prayerful about how
I handled things. This was an
opportunity to train my child for life . . . to shape his mentality about
giving. I don’t want him to value
stuff more than he values people – I don’t want him to hold too tightly to the things
of this world but rather to store up his treasures in heaven. As I thought more about it, I wondered
if Connor already had it all figured out and I was the one who needed to learn
the lesson.
I
asked Connor several times if he was sure and he said, “yes.” I pulled out some of my favorite toys
from the container and questioned him again if he wanted to keep those items so
not to break up the set . . . but the container is still full and he hasn’t
budged over the week. He assured
me all his superheroes (that he kept) could fit into one play-set so he was
happy to give the other three away. In reality, he was right. Even when he played with them in the past, it was almost
sensory overload to have all the superhero toys out at once. He tended to play with just one.
Connor
kept saying he wanted to share these toys with children who didn’t have any
toys, something I believe he learned about from his sitter that takes in foster
babies. There was one little boy
in particular that had an influence on him and Connor asks about this boy from
time to time, commenting on how he didn’t have toys or parents or food. Connor’s solution was simple; he would
share what he had with the kids who didn’t have anything. Why can’t it be that simple with us
adults?
I was always happy to donate Connor’s used and outgrown toys and clothes; however, that was simply our
leftovers. I am reminded of the
story of the poor widow in Luke 21.
Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box and then a
poor widow put in two small copper coins.
He said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of
them. For they contributed out of
their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live
on.” The point of the story is
that God measures gifts not by their size but on the basis of how much of a
sacrifice it was to give them and how sincere and selfless the heart was that
gave the gift.
I
once heard that there are two types of people in this world – givers and
takers, and that we all fall into one of those categories. Of course I would like to be in the
category of givers, but if I am truly honest with myself, I’m not so sure I am. My pastor once said you can tell a lot
about someone by their bank account, and though we tithe, we sure do spend a
lot of money on ourselves.
It is hard not to be influenced by the consumerism and materialism that dominates our culture. Though we are in this world, we are not to be of this world; our true citizenship is in heaven. We were
never meant to fit in here. I
think I fit in too much here. I
need to spend some time in prayer about my own giving. I don’t want to hold too tightly to
anything in this world but for my first love to always be the Lord. I am loving Him when I help His
people. As Jesus said in Matthew 25:40,
“Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers,
you did it to me.” In the end, we
really only get to keep what we give away anyway . . . for our reward lies in
heaven.
I’m
on a new mission – I want to be characterized by my giving, and in this to bring
glory to my heavenly Father. First
on the list, donate Connor’s toys.
