Soul Kitchen

My oldest daughter is one of the most unselfish people I have ever known. Each time she attends a birthday party and gets her goodie bag, she saves all the treats until she gets home to share and divvy up with her siblings and parents. Anytime I allow the children to pick a treat from our family “treat bag” she chooses my favourite and won’t eat it but will bring it to me for me to eat. I always thank her and explain that I want her to have it.

A couple weeks ago some friends of ours came to our church for the first time and she was allowed to choose a treat from the prize box for her memory verses. She took our friend’s daughter there to choose a treat instead of herself because she felt bad that her friend never gets that opportunity to choose the prizes herself because she doesn’t come to this church.

Some of the other examples involve her wanting to pay us back when we give or buy something for her. She knows that it costs money to do these things for her so she is always asking what she can do to pay us back. Each and every time we refuse and need to explain that we do these things for her because we love her. We don’t expect anything in return. We don’t want our children working to earn these gifts or necessities, we want them to enjoy them.

I, myself can learn from that as sometimes I find it hard to let go of things that I love. I know that I can do that and find it sometimes difficult to just say “thank you.” I feel I need to return that blessing back to the ones who blessed me by doing something special for them.

That’s not how God expects us to be. Just like my daughter doesn’t have to do anything to earn the gift from us as parents, you also don’t need to do anything to earn the blessings of God in your life. All you must do is stand in faith and claim the promises. God’s gifts are freely given.

Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”
~ Mark 11:24