Lessons from Lakeshore - Part 1
June 4th, 2007Give Your Best
Betty told us all the story of when her house burned down and they lost everything. She said the thing they missed most was all the photographs they had taken. That Christmas, her family gathered together all the photographs she had given them over the years and presented them to her in an album.
As she marveled at the beauty of the gift, she also noticed something else. Every time she had photos made, she had always kept the best ones for herself and given the leftovers away. Now all she had left was an album of second-best photos.
“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” — Luke 6:38
The same thing should apply to charitable donations. People who have just suffered a tragedy don’t need your leftover garbage. If the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, there were mountains and mountains of donated clothes that had to be burned because even the hardest hit victims didn’t want them. In Lakeshore’s distribution warehouse, I saw pallets full of donated winter clothes that did nothing but create a storage problem. Did I mention this was the Gulf Coast where it gets cold about 2 days a year?
This is what really irritates me about the modern array of home organization shows. They have 3 bins: keep, sell and donate. If it’s not worth keeping or selling, throw it out! You’re not doing anyone a favor.
If you really want to help someone, go out and buy something new or just send money to a reputable organization. Remember God’s own version of Karma from above. The way you give will eventually come back to either haunt you or bless you. The choice is yours.