As some of you may know, I had some surgery done this past week--some work on my
right foot. Nothing too serious, but it did leave me laid up for a couple of days and dependent on a cane for the rest of the week.
I warned our church the week before that I’d be hobbled a bit on the following Sunday,
so no one was too surprised to see me limping about. There was of course some very
good-natured jesting, which I greatly appreciated, as well as genuine concern, which I
also appreciated.
There was one comment that caught my attention however. It was observed (and
repeated) that I bore a very strong resemblance to Scrooge McDuck, as in the Mickey
Mouse version of A Christmas Carol. I would note that this is our family’s favorite
version of the classic tale, a fact from which one might guess where the comment came from.
This brought a pause. I thought, “Am I actually like old Scrooge?” Granted the
comment concerned my physical appearance, something caused by the cane being too short. It’s adjustable and I know I had it adjusted to a longer setting. But now it was too short. Sabotage? I can’t rule it out. My cane had been left in an unsecure location. But not likely. One way or the other it was too short and so I was waddling about like old
Scrooge (the duck version).
“But,” I wondered, “was the resemblance deeper than the physical? Has age left me
sour and grasping like the old bird?”
I hope not. I know that it happens to the best of us. We get caught unaware by the
years and soon we end up counting the pieces of coal. How dreary!
In the Book of Proverbs we read, “A miserly man hastens after wealth, and does not
know that want will come upon him.” (28.22 RSV). Yuck. I don’t want that. So I have
come up with a plan. It’s a direct counterattack. It’s generosity.
A renewed commitment to be generous, with finances, with time, with attention, and
with prayer is my plan. Nothing drives away the greedy old fowl like a generous spirit.
And just in time for the Holiday season.
Now it’s altogether possible that the “Scrooge” comparison was completely in jest, that
there’s no danger of a three spirit visitation. But therein is the beauty of generosity.
Even if I don’t “need” to be more generous, it’s a good idea anyway. Generosity in all of
its expressions blesses the soul. The Psalmist tells us that God Himself has and acts
out of a “generous spirit.” (Psalm 51.12 NKJV). In I Timothy 6.17 the Apostle Paul tells us that God “gives us richly all things to enjoy.” It’s significant that these words follow Paul’s warning to the rich that they not trust in their riches. Both Proverbs and Paul’s words to Timothy warn us that holding on too tightly to the riches of this world end in emptiness.
So, I’m going to check my priorities. I’m going to look for more opportunities to be
generous, in every meaning of the word.
And I’m getting rid of the cane.
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