Kitty S.

The “G” Words – Grumbling, Grace, Giving, and Gratitude

The boxes were stacked in the hallway, the contractor bags were bulging with towels and hygiene supplies for the homeless and the satisfaction of getting to this point was great. I love the challenge of meeting a need but I was not so excited at finishing the task of hauling each one of those boxes and bags out of the church basement, into my car and to the destination they were intended. Mumble, mumble, grumble and mumble some more….get all of these things in the car and get to the charity, drop them off and then go do something fun! Right? What I did get when I reached the point of drop-off in Pontiac was a herd of young men who ran to my car hauling all the bags and boxes and was taken with one very tall, baby-faced kid who was overwhelmed by the donations given by my congregation. He invited me in and asked if I would like to tour the facility and hear about the program he was enrolled in. I certainly did want the tour so he took me up and down a short hallway, because the other areas were off limits, explaining how he has to and wants to go to bible study every day, take a class in computers, work in the thrift shop owned by the charity and assist with donations. He explained that his parents did charity work all the time. He also shared that he felt the good they did took away from the time they spent with him and so he found satisfaction in all the wrong places. As I stood listening, watching the changes in his face I realized that I had been given a gift. I had been reminded of how little some of us have, how hard some of our lives are, how uncertain the future is for even talented kids and I felt it to my core. That was 40 years ago. It’s okay to be overwhelmed, tired and out of gas when you are serving others as long as the take-home is that generosity and sharing are an affair of the heart and a gift. I started out as the giver and became, (in the short time that young man shared his life with me,) the receiver of grace; rewarded for being a delivery girl with the gift of joy and appreciation by a kid who had not yet turned 19. It is in the smallest of things we find ourselves. And, in the smallest of things we find that giving is its own reward.