Reminders that generous matters found in Lucketts, Lancaster, and the Basinger garage

This past Saturday was a rare day, jam-packed from morning ’til night with reminders that generous matters. Or maybe it wasn’t really that rare, but seemed so because I slowed down enough to notice the generosity around me. Regardless, it was a remarkable sixteen-hour span.

Early morning, my husband and I headed to Northern Virginia for the 41^st Lucketts Fair, an event made possible by the good-will and community spirit of hundreds of volunteers. From the orange-vested parking brigade that waved us across a freshly mowed field (work of other volunteers, I assume), to the greeters who collected our entrance fee and stamped our hands with the warmth of a handshake, to the kind soul who pointed the way to the port-a-potties, generosity ruled the day.

And there was more. The folks from the Lucketts United Methodist Church invited me to add a quarter to the cost of a cup of freshly brewed iced tea (unsweetened, thank you) for their feed-the-hungry-children fund.  A smartly dressed women (did I mention that this was Northern VA?) at the Habitat for Humanity tent asked me to lend a hand or give a dollar. Next door, members of the equine rescue team were raising money and concern for horses treated badly.  Boy Scouts, a garden club, the local fire company, etc, etc, etc. Generous matters to community.

Mid-afternoon, we headed to Lancaster, PA to offer condolences to a long-time friend and trustee of Messiah College who days earlier had lost her husband. For 53 years, these careful stewards have modeled faith-filled generosity to their church and its associated ministries (local, national, and global), the college, and many, many other causes. As I watched friends, family, and board colleagues talk, cry, and pray with the new widow, Jesus’ words about casting our bread on the water came to mind. Generous matters to the hurting.

Early evening, my husband and I headed to our garage for painting projects – a vintage metal wardrobe and a small dresser — in anticipation of our younger family’s move to a new home. Kind man that he is, Randy took the bigger job, despite his obvious exhaustion at the end of a long day. A true greater love has no man, husband, or grandpa sort of gesture. Generosity matters to family.

Before heading to bed, I glanced at the day’s quote from the calendar I keep on my desk. “Persons can never be more than their character makes them . . . Character, then is the essential thing. What is in the heart and what comes ‘out of the abundance of the heart’ (Matt. 12:34) are the only realities in life. If we fail to see this, we are yet, as our Lord said, ‘without understanding’ (Matt. 15:16).”*  Generous matters to who we are.

A fitting benediction on a remarkable, generosity filled day. A day like any other.  May I always see this.

*God Is Enough, Hannah Whitall Smith