This is something I wrote ten years ago. It seemed worth a second look.
I once read about a couple (actually, it was only the wife at first) that began giving things away to try to lift her spirits. She had been looking for something to help her get past several things in her life such as the economic downturn and as she said, “the joy quotient of her seven-year-old marriage.” She had tried to bring herself out of the doldrums by shopping. Cutting the price tags off her purchases made her feel even worse so she consulted a friend who suggested the opposite of shopping – giving away.
She started small by giving away earrings, then a silk shawl, and one time even handed a book of stamps to a man outside the post office. She discovered that though her finances hadn’t improved, her anxiety level had.
The biggest challenge came when she thought they should give a young newly-wed couple a special table the two of them had built together. It was a piece of furniture they used especially when they had dinner guests According to the article, it took a bit of convincing argument to bring her husband around to her point of view. In that process, however, they worked out some of their personal issues and learned how rewarding it was to see the joy of the recipients.
As I read the article, I couldn’t help but think how Christ-like that was, but no mention of Christ was made — only that the Giveaway was a tradition of the Lakota Sioux Indians. I thought of things to which I was attached such as a car, a house, money, my kids, school, students, my schedule. I thought of Linus and his blanket and then Moses and his staff. We humans get attached to things and to people. I don’t think that is wrong necessarily, however, we may hold too tightly. Moving away from a house you have grown to love, leaving a child at college for the first time, or giving up a loved one to death are hard attachments to break. (Side note: Leaving our daughters at college always brought tears to my eyes, but we survived. Thanks to phones and email we were still attached, sort of.)
Moses had to throw down his staff before it became the Lord’s staff (Exodus 4:2, 20). Early in chapter 4 God commanded Moses to throw down his staff. It became a snake and God commanded Moses to again pick it up. In v. 20, after Moses had run out of arguments with God, it says “Moses took the staff of God.” God used Moses and his staff to fulfill His purpose of rescuing His people. Even our children must be held loosely. We must recognize the gifts they are and, with thankfulness, nurture and guide them along their way. They grow up. Allow God to use them in His way, not ours. Most important – pray for them diligently and often.
My dad used to remind me of Colossians 3:2 when he saw me making some “thing” more important than it really was. “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” I’m ashamed to say that many times things have come between me and God. My mind is not always on things above. Like Linus. I think I need my blanket, my thing, whatever it is. You may feel the same way. Let’s hold things loosely. God may want you to give it away, or He may just want you to let Him use it.
“Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life (1 Timothy 6: 17-19).