How to Give - by Luke Gauntt

How do you decide what to put in the collection plate on Sunday? I remember the younger days when I would optimistically pull my wallet out of my back pocket and slowly open it up. More often than not, there was nothing in it. If I did see bills, I always hoped for a couple of ones...and prayed that I didn't have just a five or a ten...cause that causes a dilemma - give it all or keep it all???
With the invention of Dave Ramsey, we are now able to calculate exactly how much we should write a check for each week. But I know that there are still emotional struggles when the collection plate passes by. I know that there are people in pews struggling with how much they should put in...will they be able to pay all of the weeks bills if they put in what they wanted to put in...? So, for all of us who struggle, I offer this solution to how to give that I learned from my son, Luke, this morning.
Before the offering was about to be taken, Angie pulled out her wallet. In the bill section, she had three ones. She quietly pulled them out and gave them to the older three children. But Luke, sitting in her lap, didn't get a dollar to put in the collection plate. So after passing out the bills, Angie opened up the change pocket on her wallet and asked Luke if he wanted to get some money out to go in the collection plate. He quickly stuck one fist in and grabbed as many coins as he could. After retrieving a handful of coins, he stuck his other fist into the coin pocket and again retrieved a handful of coins. Then, he dove back in with his first fist, still filled with coins, and tried to pull out even more coins.
That's how to give.
Life as I know it is lived abundantly when we keep reaching deep down inside so that we can give more and more and more.