Yesterday’s blog post pondered God’s promise to us that: God blesses kindness.
“Blessed is the person who is kind to the needy.” – Proverbs 14:21b
Today’s thought to ponder is God’s promise to us that: God blesses generosity.
“A generous person will be blessed, for they share their food with the poor.” – Proverbs 22:9
This time last year hubby and I were in a very difficult season. This difficult season required a lot of kindness … and a lot of generosity. Yet, for all the kindness and generosity hubby and I were pouring out, it felt like we were on the “losing end” of life.
God has promised that he blesses generosity.
But this does not mean the blessing will be immediate.
Kindness and generosity oftentimes require personal sacrifice. This time last year I sacrificed my garden. I simply did not have the capacity or bandwidth to care for the garden … and keep up with my duties in life.
This time last year I sacrificed writing for the blog. I love writing for the blog, so this was a really big sacrifice for me. I simply did not have the capacity or bandwidth to write and keep up with my duties in life.
Hubby and I sacrificed a lot of other things as well … as we obeyed God in his directive concerning kindness and generosity.
Hubby and I did not feel “blessed” at all in that season of life. We only felt like we were on the “losing end” of life.
“Blessed is the person who is kind to the needy.” – Proverbs 14:21b
“A generous person will be blessed, for they share their food with the poor.” – Proverbs 22:9
We don’t always see God’s blessing right away.
I have shared in past blog posts about my Clerodendrum plant which I am rather fond of. It was given to my daughter as a gift by an older patient at the physical therapy clinic she used to work at. He had taken a little “start” from his Clerodendrum plant and had started a new plant to give to her.
The Clerodendrum was our “Christmas tree” that very first year.
The Clerodendrum struggled to survive the summer of 2023 – after which, it rallied and bloomed! It was the first time it had ever bloomed!
Since then, the Clerodendrum has just sat upstairs and minded its own business. I would water it each week … but otherwise, it grew and did its own thing.
This time last year the Clerodendrum was one of those things I did not have the capacity or bandwidth for. With all the drama going on in my life, I totally forgot to water it … week … after week … after week.
Weeks turned into months. The Clerodendrum was forgotten about all last Fall!
In January of this year, once the drama in my life had calmed down … I finally noticed the Clerodendrum. It was all shriveled up! It was so dried out that every leaf was withered and brown, clinging to lifeless brown vine stems.
I could really relate to the Clerodendrum because that was the way I was feeling at that point in time. My soul was all shriveled up, and I felt “dead” and “dry” inside … just like the Clerodendrum.
In the past whenever I forgot for extended periods to water the Clerodendrum, I would dump a ton of water on it and it would rally and come back. So in a last-ditch hopeless effort, I dumped a ton of water on it.
January turned into February … and the Clerodendrum upstairs remained dried-up and lifeless.
I too still felt “dried-up” inside, but I was making my own rally by trying to catch the blog back up. I had gotten 3 full months behind, due to all the drama of the Fall. Starting on January 1st, I went back to where I had left off in October and began the long slow journey of trying to catch back up again.
Would God give me the “words” to catch up 3-months’ worth of blog posts?? That’s a lot of “words.”
February turned into March … and March turned into April. The Clerodendrum still sat upstairs just as dried-up and lifeless as ever. I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of it. It was a special plant and I was sad that I had lost it.
However, my soul was not as “dried up” inside as it had been. I was making progress on catching the blog back up. I had closed the gap by a full month. Now I was only 2-months behind. The “words” were coming. God was giving me things to write about. My joy was coming back.
Halfway through April, as I was caught up in the joy of planting all the seeds from my Advent Seed Calendar, I finally decided to do something about the dried-up Clerodendrum sitting upstairs. I needed the pot for my new little Advent Calendar seeds.
I went upstairs, retrieved the dried-up Clerodendrum, and brought it downstairs where I was going to pull it all out of the pot and toss all the dried-up stuff away.
Lo and behold! … shock of all shocks! … way down near the base of one of the vines … a teeny, tiny, little green shoot!
What!?!
Is there life still in the Clerodendrum?!?
Just as life was coming back to my own soul again … and joy was starting to come back to my soul once again … so too, life was coming back to the Clerodendrum again too! That’s amazing!
I carefully pulled out all the dead plant matter from the Clerodendrum pot and trimmed back the vine which had the one teeny, tiny, little green shoot. But alas! In the process of doing all this, the one tiny little green shoot accidentally got knocked off.
Would it come back again??
Was there enough life in those little roots from that little twig for a green shoot to come back again??
I planted the little twig in a brand-new pot and placed it in the living room window where I could watch it every day to see if another little green shoot would appear.
April turned into May. I was making good progress catching the blog back up … I was slowly-but-surely closing the gap from being 2-months behind to only 1-month behind. But thus far, no little green shoot on the “lifeless-looking” twig in the pot.
At the very end of May … hope! A little green shoot appeared on the “lifeless-looking” twig. There is life in the Clerodendrum! Thank you God that there is life still there!
May turned into June … and June turned into July. The little sprout on the “lifeless-looking” twig has slowly been growing. Just as I too have slowly been catching the blog back up. God did provide the “words.” God was faithful! God did help me catch back up! At the beginning of August, I was completely caught-up with the blog. Thank you God for this blessing!
And here you can see the Clerodendrum currently …
Thank you God for this blessing!
This time last year I had given up my garden … and here you can see my bean harvest this week. This was the very first of the bean harvest. The vines are still sending out runners, and the vines are loaded with lots more beans. I spent a good bit of yesterday blanching and freezing beans for mine and hubby’s meals this coming winter.
Thank you God for this blessing!
So back to today’s blog topic: God blesses kindness. God blesses generosity.
Yes, this is true! But … we don’t always see God’s blessings in the immediate. We might have to go through a season where we feel “dried up” and “dead” on the inside … after having obeyed God’s directive concerning kindness and generosity. We might feel that for all our obedience, we’ve come out on the “losing end” of life.
God is faithful!
God is faithful to his promises!
God does bless kindness!
God does bless generosity!
Even if we don’t see it in the immediate … God is faithful to his promises!
