Everyone wants to be blessed, let's be real. But sometimes we have the misconception that we should be blessed in return. We tend to miss the fact that we shouldn't do things to bless others just so we can be blessed. We also tend to miss that by blessing others we are being blessed. If the Lord has blessed you enough to bless someone else, guess what... you have been blessed. Recently someone was telling me the Food Bank in our area was in need then I heard about another group being in need of something very similar. I sat there realizing that when I go grocery shopping next it wouldn't be too difficult to buy a couple of extra canned goods (I mean really, Kroger has a 10 for $10 deal and what does $10 really mean to me anyway?). The Food Bank does food drives during the holidays and they are successful. We think that people only need to eat during Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. We forget that summer and fall people need to eat too. The Food Bank is a resource for those going through difficult times.
Although I am a "poor" college student, the Lord has blessed me with more money than someone else. There is always going to be someone who has less than I do and there is always going to be someone that has more than I do. We can be a blessing to others by simply dying to ourselves over something small. Most of the time we don't really have to give anything up to bless someone else. For some people $10 is the difference of eating a meal or not. Then again, for many others $10 is not going and getting a coffee and a muffin. Thinking about the Food Bank in our area being in need has made me realize that I over look the needs in my area far more often than I would like to realize. It has also made me look back on my own past.
My family has never been "dirt poor" but we have had our instances of difficulty. I remember times when we had an abundance, but then I remember times of just praying to get by. There were times growing up we would dig through our couches to find enough money for each of us to buy a $1 hamburger from McDonald's. We would walk to the McDonald's rather than drive because we didn't want to use more gas than we had to because the gas needed to be used for someone to get to work the next day. There were also times when nana and papa would pay for groceries. Things were not always like this, but it has taught me there are always people the Lord could use me to bless, even though I think I don't have much to bless them with. This is also a misconception, we think we have to have x number of dollars in the bank to be a financial blessing to someone. We do not have to be "rolling in the doe," so to speak, to bless someone else. If I can afford to buy my own groceries, I can afford to buy the store brand and help someone else out.
Think about someone who has blessed you, what did they do? How did you respond? Use that to think about how you could bless others.
If you are interested in helping the Food Bank or interested in finding more opportunities you can email me at bngambill@gmail.com.
