A Sweet Lesson

This weekend Brad's family came up for a visit. His mom and dad brought his "older than dirt" (quoting Julianna here) grandparents - Granny and Gramps. They are so sweet, and we all enjoyed their visit so much.

Granny and Gramps gave the children $10 each. They were very excited and couldn't wait to go to WalMart to spend it. Well, on Sunday morning I decided I would ask them if they would like to tithe 10% of their money in church. I explained to them that the bible teaches us to give 10%, in their case $1.00, to the church. I tell them how when we are obedient to God, he blesses our lives. I really thought they were going to give me a hard time, and I wasn't going to make them give. But much to my surprise, they both completely willingly said yes, they would give. So we took a dollar each and put it in their pockets for church. I told them that Jesus, and mommy and daddy were very proud of them for obeying God. We got to church and they, without question once again, put their money in the offering plate. It was the sweetest thing ever. I told them again that God blesses those that are obedient.

So this morning, after we all get dressed for the day I asked them if they wanted to go to Walmart. Of course they did, so we got ready to go. As we were leaving, I slipped my hand in my pants pocket and found $3.00. I said to Jackson, "Jack, remember yesterday when mommy asked you if you would like to tithe $1.00 of your money? And you said yes, and mommy told you that God blesses those who obey him?" He said he remembered. I showed him what I found in my pocket. I said, "look, because you were obedient to Him, he blessed us with finding $3.00! Now you and Anna actually have $0.50 more than what you started with!" He was so excited. I really think he got it.

So I was thinking about it all tonight and I always had the intention of making up that dollar at Walmart. Of course, they didn't know that when they made the decision to tithe. I wonder how often that is the case with us? How often is God ready and willing to bless us if we just obey and follow is word? How many times do we mess it up by doing what WE think is best? What can we do to have the faith that Jackson and Julianna had yesterday morning? To obey God without question? What blessings are we missing?