Help in Every Way.

When my mother died, my siblings and I came together to figure out the details of death: funeral readings, the cemetery plot, banking matters, travel plans for loved ones, the practical things done in the daze of grieving. At the end of our long, surreal day, two fellows knocked at my sister’s door. They were delivering dinner from a local restaurant, a surprise arranged long-distance by our thoughtful cousins. As trays of steaming, fragrant food and all the trimmings were brought into the kitchen, we collapsed in gratitude. Like the exiles in Psalm 126, “we were like men dreaming.”

We all know that feeling, when someone gives us exactly what we need, especially when maybe we didn’t realize how desperately we needed it until we received it. We are amazed by the generosity shown us; we are wrapped in a warm blanket of thankfulness.

It can be harder, or more humbling, for some of us to receive than to give, especially if we are the types who take charge and volunteer and contribute to charities and are unfailingly present for others. But givers cannot give without receivers. The grace we need both to give and receive radiates from God.

Today’s readings focus on the givers, the ones who joyfully donate their “silver, gold, goods, and cattle,” or similarly precious items. Inspired to give, we light the world with our blazing offerings. God has given us such marvelous fortune and guides us to give our gifts away just as extravagantly.

Valerie Schultz. Taken from Give Us This Day.

Valerie Schultz is a freelance writer and award-winning essayist. She is author of the recently released book Overdue: A Dewey Decimal System of Grace (Liturgical Press).