40 Days 40 Gifts Day 3

So this giving thing is a little harder than expected. Yesterday I was set on giving my colleagues some snacks for our staff meeting – healthy snacks since they’re all healthy people. So I decided on crudités and cottage cheese. Off I went to the shop to find cottage cheese. The car guard greeted me with a big smile and I ran inside. No cottage cheese. I had R50 in my purse and no small change so when I ran back to my car I was faced with this dilemma – R50 to the car guard or give him nothing. I generally do tip car guards but with a R2 or R5 coin. There was absolutely no way I was going to be handing over R50 to the guy, no matter how friendly he had been. So off I went and as I drove to work I found myself obsessing over this car guard and my attachment to money. Why could I not part with R50? I know it’s unusual to hand over R50 for watching my car for two minutes but I am supposed to be giving for the next 38 days. And if I think about it R50 is not that much for someone like me who earns a fair to good salary. It is a lot of money for someone like him who relies on the tips that people give. So why was I so attached to that R50? And what does this mean for my spiritual life.

The bible is quite clear about our attachment to money and possessions. Luke 16:13 reflects Jesus’ words “no servant can serve 2 masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other.” Now I am not sure about the words hate and despise, but I realise that in very subtle ways my “trust in riches” (Prov 11:28) is constrains my ability to connect more deeply with God and with others and to have faith in God’s provision. This is a journey I must continue on. Lesson 3: When we only focus on our own hand in making our money (as opposed to God’s provision), then we have only ourselves to rely on in terms of making sure we enough money for a rainy day so we obsess about holding on to it. However, when we begin to recognise how utterly dependant we are on others and on God, then we can’t help seeing how dependant others are on us. So in the end the guy didn’t get his R50, my colleagues did get their healthy snack and were appreciative, and I got a lot more than I bargained for in taking on this challenge.