Generous Act

I was taught a lesson of generosity this evening. It humbled me in the end and God showed me the compassionate love of a child through a simple act. We had VBS this week; our church van ran every evening through a trailer park near our church. We had a van full of kids every evening from the trailer park. The kids absolutely love Abigial. Several of them want to hold her, hug her, touch her, and help me tend to her needs. There was one little girl that took a special interest in her and stuck by her side most of the week. On Thursday she told me that she had gotten her a present, that was a stuffed animal, but it was at home. I told her that was very sweet of her to get her a gift but Abigail would want her to enjoy the stuffed animal and play with it. I told her that she didn’t need to get Abigail anything, that she could just be friends with her and that would be showing her love and friendship. I told her how we value friends and love above presents. Anyway on Friday, we get to Bible school and she had the brightest smile on her face, and a stuffed bear in her hands, that had a Christmas outfit on. The bear was old, worn, and to be honest wrecked of cigarette smoke. She was so pleased with her gift for Abigail. We acted excited and I took the bear and placed it in the chair beside our stuff. Several time throughout the evening she made comment to the bear and asked if we could play with it, I told her we would have to wait until VBS was over. She asked me several times if we liked the bear and if I thought Abigail liked the bear. She kept seeking approval through the gift she gave us. She so desperately wanted to show us love. She is the sweetest little girl. I have to be honest, my first instinct was to toss the bear, however on the way home, Jason said to me that was a gift given with true love and generosity. She so desperately wanted to give us something. So I am going to soak the bear in dreft this evening, and toss it in the washer tomorrow, and put it with Abigail’s other animals as a reminder to me of this generous act.