He gives you something to give away

2 Corinthians 9:10 This most generous God who gives seed to the farmer that becomes bread for your meals is more than extravagant with you. He gives you something you can then give away, which grows into full-formed lives.

This verse really pulled me up short. I am so aware of God's generosity in my life, and this calls me to recognize to what use God wants me to put these gifts -- I am to give them away to others, so that they can realize the fullness of life God wants for them.

I am reminded of the example of Catherine of Siena. She is described as pouring herself out on those in need. The Mother Theresa of her day, she attended to the poor and dying in the streets of Siena, and contemporary observers describe her going days without food or rest, living on air, and on her love for others, her Christian call. She describes at one point exchanging her heart of stone with Christ's human heart of flesh and blood, and with that heart of compassion she reached out to everyone in need. She even called Popes and Bishops to account for their lives!

Do I have it in me to be a Catherine of Siena? Hardly. I've already long outlived her (she died at about 37), and clearly have a long way to go before I pour myself out to the needy of this world. This verse calls me to look at what I do have and see how I can use it in service to the needs of others. With the destruction of Haiti in the news, and the relief flooding in to that impoverished, devastated country, one obvious thing I can do is give money. And I do. But I also look to my other gifts, gifts of education and training, gifts of compassion and insight, of listening, of writing, and others I may not even be aware of. I am called to look for ways to pass those gifts along as well. Like the dead sea, which accumulates toxic salt because there is no outlet, our gifts can prove toxic if we don't freely give them away. Giving produces a beneficial flow, where gifts from others flow in to fill their place. So it is in giving and receiving that we experience Christian community.

Prayer: Dear God, You have showered me with blessings. Teach me how to give them away, so that I may experience the service that is perfect freedom, participate in the building of Your Kingdom and receive the blessing of Your Grace. Amen.