Generosity.

Just feel like saying that there is nothing like being involved in some give and take!
Auntie Margeret used to say " cast your bread upon the waters and it'll come back buttered" I love that saying.....it is too long since I have had the wherewithall to give anything much and at times that can get me down, I need to remember though, that very often the best gifts are the little ones that cost next to nothing.
I remember one day in the middle of summer my sister Julie and I walking along a beautiful part of Plymouth and eating an ice lolly, hmmmm it was a new one, opal fruits ( now starburst, I think) and was so refreshing...as we finished I had the feeling that a friend of mine would love them. It seemed absurd but told Julie that we had to buy some and take them to this friend. We did just that and when she opened the door and saw what we had she got teary and told us that her husband was away with work, she was in mid chemo for breast cancer and her whole mouth was full of painful sores and ulcers....she had turned her house upside down for something that would soothe her mouth and quench her thrist, living too far from the shops she was miserable not having anything to eat or drink that would taste and feel good. She said that these lollies were the answer to her prayers. Lesson learned, never give in to that feeling that something is too small or seems too absurd...if you feel something strongly enough, go with it, you can't go too far wrong!
Oh my, here's another tale that doesn't make me look like an administering angel!!
One year into being a single parent, 3 children under 5...we got to Easter weekend and I wanted to go out...I prepared the 3 under 5's and we caught the bus to the Barbican, beautiful harbour with cobbled streets, fabulous shops and lots to see. Probably a mistake, Sophie was a year old, in the pushchair, Jordan 3, Dan 5....Jordan, love him, is one of life's touchers, can't see anything and not poke it, pick it up, put it down, turn it 'round. Hasn't changed even at 17, I still feel the urge to tell him to put his hands in his pockets if we go into a shop!
Well, here we are at the Barbican, walking the cobbled streets, window shopping, taking in the smell of the seaside and fish and chips.
Oh, I know that the indoor flea market isn't a good idea with the kids ,but bribery is a marvellous tool and I tell them that if they just let me walk around for 10 minutes we will head for the park and the fun stuff right afterwards.
Picture this olde worlde indoor market, tons of stalls, tiny alleyways, me, pushcair, 2 boys , 1 each side and Jordan and his octopus arms..
CRASH!! It had to happen didn't it? And somehow I wouldn't have felt quite so bad if it had been an attractive ornament that the slippery fingered Jordan had found irresistable but truly it was remarkable in it's ugliness, a bubble effect glass vase with plastic flower in it, and of course right next to the sign that said " pretty to look at, lovely to hold, but if you break it consider it sold" If my wits had been about me I would have argued the point because the sign so obviosuly went against all trading standards...anyhoo, here I was the day before Easter, defrosting turkey in the fridge and barely enough money for some vegetables and every penny of it went to the stall holder with the best luck in the world ( don't want to be boring about it but honest to Betsie the only way she was ever going to get money for that monstrosity was if some innocent person with the WORST luck in the world broke it)
I had internal melt down, just one of those things that seem the end of the world and I handed over the money and left....ever seen those cartoons where someone or something is dragged along at such speed they are horizontal? That was Dan and Jordan who, sensing this might not be the time to complain or run away, held onto the stripey blue pushchair with impressive strength and tenacity. Naturally, my flight wasn't done in silence, it was accompanied by the kind of tirade that we women do so well.
" You had to touch it didn't you, DIDN'T YOU? now what? that was all the money I had in the world and it's gone on some ugly vase that wasn't worth 50p..... why did you touch it...why didn't you have your arms folded like I asked you....now we've got nothing, nothing and I don't know what I will do......." up the hill, over the road, on and on, tears pouring down my face, Jordan sobbing but daring not to interrupt.....then I felt a gentle tug on my sleeve, I stopped and looked around and there was an unremarkable lady of about 50ish, can't remember what she looked like really but I will remember her words for eternity, she handed me a £5 note and said " I saw what happened and I just can't bear it, please let me give you back the money you had to pay.....he's such a little boy and he didn't mean it, please let me help you" and she was gone.
I have rarely felt more humble than right there and then. £5 ...nothing really is it? For the loss of £5 I risked dimming Jordan's spirit, didn't give a thought to how he must have felt when that hideous glass vase slipped out of his fingers onto that concrete floor....hadn't imagined that anyone would be watching or care enough to step in and help out.
I learned that by keeping our eyes and ears open we can grasp so many opportunites to be an angel. Angels aren't always dressed in white and hardly ever have wings..... I love the scripure that says " Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares" ( Hebrews 13: 2)
May we all encounter angels and wear the wings ourselves as often as chance allows!