He Owns Everything

 I went riding today, with some friends of the family, and one of the women and I fell a little bit behind all the others.  We rode past a house, with about four kids sitting on the porch, just enjoying the nice weather.  The waved at us as we rode by, and we waved back.  As we passed the driveway, Mrs. Jennifer said, "Tyler, I think I am going to go up and say 'hi' to them.  Do you want to come?"  So we turned around and went up the driveway.  The kids got really excited, and started running up to us.  Their mother came out, and we asked her if the kids could ride the horses.  Well, the children got even more excited, and they got up on the horses, and we just led them around the yard a few times.  I could tell that we had just made their day.  It made me feel amazing inside, to know that I was part of the source of this happiness.  As we rode away from the house, Mrs. Jennifer and I were talking about it, and she said, "You know, when you have such a wonderful gift as a horse, I think that God wants us to share it."  That was more or less the end of that conversation, but I continued feeling the joy that I had brought to the children, and her words had me thinking.  That really was the purpose of gifts.  We were given gifts to share our joy with others. 

Have you ever noticed that when you bring joy to others, you feel that joy for the rest of the day?  I will probably never see those kids again, but knowing that I made them happy, even if only for a short while - I think that is one of the greatest gifts God can give. 

I see it this way:  God gave us everything we have.  So, it isn't really ours in the first place.  So why should we be stingy with our gifts?  We should share everything we are given.  I mean, we are all brothers and sisters in Christ, and we should share with each other, right?  Who are we to be selfish with that which is not our own?

In Christ always,

Tyler Henke