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 6:37-39
My clients decided that they would like to bless the participants of our day program by baking for others - not grudgingly - but because they instinctively knew that it's more blessed to give freely than to receive a forced "gift" with calculating duty.
With one client manning the freshly brewing coffee, another client of mine took down orders with a makeshift menu in hand ("cream and sugar with your coffee?"). After he had written down a few names I realized that, aside from his own name, he had only memorized "Santa" over the years of faithfully writing his Christmas wish list, and so Santa's name was scrawled out all over the page. I broke each name down for him ("John...that's J-O-H-N); his face lit up with joy, spelling out life itself.
The timer rang, we pulled the cinnamon buns out of the steaming oven, breathing deeply with head tilted into the fresh aroma of cinnamon and coffee - smiling with deep satisfaction. My clients brought the orders out on serving platters ("oops...you wanted cream with your coffee, right?"). They couldn't hold their happiness in, moving the people they served with laughter that fills the eyes with tears; though if we were asked the reason for our unrestrained laughter, we would have all fell self-consciously silent.
People slowly ate their cinnamon buns and drank their coffee contentedly; still laughing and savouring the moment together; lingering in the nourishing presence of generosity and good grace. "God loves a cheerful giver" (2 Corinthians 9:7), and so the love of God spread like an emerging sunrise - the stretching first slant of warm, golden light dawning on their glowing faces - we were bathed in the radiance of God's presence, and soaked it all in.
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