What if we each had $5 to give?
To give or to spend?
Is there a difference between "give" and "spend?"
Say, you would use the money for a charitable cause.
Could you spend $5 buying a dress for a homeless girl in Haiti?
Could you spend $5 buying a breakfast for an inner city boy who left home hungry that morning?
Yes.
You could spend $5 those ways.
Could you give $5 to an homeless girl in Haiti so she could buy a dress?
Could you give $5 to the inner city boy with an empty stomach so he could buy a meal?
Yes.
You could give your $5 for these reasons too.
What do you think the girl would really do with that money?
Do you think she would go without a new dress to buy food for her family?
Do you think she'd buy candy?
What do you think the boy would really do with that money?
Do you think he would go without breakfast to buy his mother a birthday present?
Do you think he'd buy a toy?
Are these good decisions?
Do you trust them to make these decisions?
My pulse quickened as I slowed the car to a stop. I was afraid when I leaned out my car window to gift a few bills to the bent man at the traffic intersection. He is holding a folded cardboard sign scrawled with "Need money for family" and his worn fingernails are dirty. Will he really use the money that way?
I got shaky hands when I left the grocery store with an extra sandwich and juice bottle in a plastic sack. When I extended that small thin bag of food to the gentleman with sunken eyes and filthy pants, I saw a glimmer in his eye. Could it be alcohol? Could it be disillusionment?
He spoke in the most sincere voice I'd ever heard. Grace and love flew from his lips as he uttered, "Thank You. I really need this."
As I continued along the sidewalk, heavy in my belly with a kicking infant, carrying my hand sewn grocery tote full of food, my 3 year old daughter asked me if we know that man. "No," I say. "No, we don't know him. But he looked hungry so we gave him food." With her hand tucked into mine she repeated my words quietly, "no, we don't know him but we gave him some food."
What if I had given him $5?
What if I had let him decide where to spend those five hundred pennies.
Did I doubt the goodness and honesty in these men?
Did I doubt the free will that is humanity?
Does sound judgement somehow come with only with prosperity?
Did I doubt that God lives in them and that He knows and loves them, and guides their hearts and actions?
What if I had given the $5 and simply trusted them?
What if we all trusted a little bit more?
If I trusted more would I become more open?Would the gates of seclusion, competition, and envy melt away?
Can I put my faith in Christ Jesus and simply rest in that He alone determines whose actions are good and whose are evil.
If I left the judgement up to God, would I be able to see the purity in humanity more clearly?
If I left judgement up to God, could I put my faith more fully into God's hands?
Might I pull myself just a bit closer to Him by examining his works each day, grasping onto His grace, and recognizing His miracles.
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Thank you for visiting! Hugs and prayers ~ Abbie
Hello, I am glad you came. Abbie Living is the place where I share my sewing, knitting, and crafting projects and most importantly, share my passion for helping others in need. 
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