Sharing Our Blessings

OUR FAMILY’S FAVORITE THANKSGIVING took place in the Philippines exactly thirty years ago. It was important to Bob and me to teach our children why President Abraham Lincoln chose to make the last Thursday in November a national day of Thanksgiving, even in the midst of the country’s terrible Civil War. He inspired our nation to be thankful for the blessings of God, which was also a goal we had for our family.

In our devotions that Thanksgiving morning, we asked the Lord to provide an opportunity to share our blessings with someone in need. Our five children, ranging in age from two to thirteen, eagerly waited to see how God would answer our prayer. A few hours later, we heard the bell ring at our gate. The Filipino girl who worked for us went to see who it was and then ran up the walkway to tell us that a little orphan boy was asleep outside the gate. We never knew who rang the bell to alert us.

When we first moved to the Philippines, we were advised to ignore the poor and the beggars because there were too many of them to help, and they would surely take advantage of our generosity. Our family, however, had been reading a psalm and a chapter from Proverbs every day for years, and we couldn’t ignore the Bible’s counsel to help the needy. Listed below are just a few of the verses that impacted us:

• “With the kind You show Yourself kind” (Psalm 18:25).
• “Happy is he who is gracious to the poor” (Proverbs 14:21).
• “One who is gracious to a poor man lends to the LORD, and He will repay him for his good deed” (Proverbs 19:17).
• “He who shuts his ear to the cry of the poor will also cry himself and not be answered” (Proverbs 21:13).
• “He who is generous will be blessed, for he gives some of his food to the poor” (Proverbs 22:9).
• “He who gives to the poor will never want, but he who shuts his eyes will have many curses” (Proverbs 28:27).

As a result of reading the above Scriptures monthly, we concluded that our policy would be to give out bags of rice to the hungry and fill prescriptions for the sick—and it was God’s business if people took advantage of us.

Louie, a little beggar boy with one eye, was the specific answer to our prayers that Thanksgiving Day. We woke him up gently and brought him into our home. The girls and I continued to fix Thanksgiving dinner while Bob and the three boys gave Louie a bath. They put antibiotic cream on the sores all over his little body and Band-Aids on the worst ones. They tossed his tattered clothes and dressed him in a Tampa Bay Buccaneers outfit from my mom that had been passed down to each of our sons. My mom, a huge “Bucs” fan, loved seeing the picture of Louie in it. Louie had no idea about such things as American sports teams, but he was excited about his “new” clothes. The boys played with him and let him pick some of their toys to keep. They also told him about Jesus.

We will never forget the look on Louie’s face when he saw all the food on our table. Although turkey was not available, chicken worked fine. Louie ate and ate. He shoveled food in his mouth with his fingers, and we guessed this was the first time he’d ever been able to eat all he wanted. As our children loved on Louie, they clearly understood how blessed we were and how much we had to share with others.

Louie returned to our house every day for many days. We fed him and talked more about Jesus, while Bob worked diligently on arrangements for Louie to live in a Christian boys’ home. But one day, Louie stopped coming. We learned from other street kids that because Louie looked too well fed and clean to earn enough money from begging, his “handlers” had moved him to another part of the city. We never saw Louie again, but our family didn’t forget him. A picture of little beggar-boy Louie with one eye is cemented in our brains to remind us that sharing our blessings is not just for Thanksgiving; it’s also the Christian life!

REFLECTION

Are you blessed with enough to share? Look over the verses listed above, and choose one to memorize and meditate on today. Thank the Lord for His abundant blessings, and then ask Him for specific ways to pass on your blessings to those who need them. We don’t have to wait for Thanksgiving to share what God has given us!