In musical The Lion King, the theme song and story paint a picture of the circle of life. It flows from our Creator to each of us; then, with a thankful attitude, through us to our circle of influence; and then back to God again.
The circle of life always begins with God. Everything we have comes from God - our physical bodies, brains, natural gifts, opportunities, talents, skills, time and energy. Even our next breath is a gift from God.
Then, we have a choice as to what to do with those grace gifts. Do we use them to build up a reserve for ourselves that we will leave behind when we die? Or do we let it flow through us to the world around us?
Picture in your mind a circle, a circle of life with several pivotal points around its circumference. The decisions we make -the first pivotal point - will determine the continued flow or the stopping point of God's gift. A mental picture of a plugged hose might help. Turn the water at the tap on and it will flow freely through the hose until it gets to that pivotal spot. If we bend the hose tightly, the water stays in the first half but does not flow to the nozzle to fulfill its purpose. If we release the kink, the water continues to flow.
The second pivotal spot is the attitude of both the giver and the receiver. An attitude of gratitude and generosity ensures the circle will always be unbroken. Here's where we have to do a heart check. Am I giving what I have received, graciously, grudgingly, out of obligation or tight-fistedly?
There is never a plug on God's end. If we're not restricting the flow of our giving and our attitude is one of thanksgiving, then grace will continue to flow and keep increasing.
If we choose to stop the flow, even God's return of grace will be restricted.
While in India this year, I worked beside a pastor who emulates a spirit of generosity. Literally everything that comes his way, he continues to give away with an attitude of gratitude.
Tushar told me an old Indian story that illustrated our Western mindset. He didn't say that it was a picture of the way North Americans think but I quickly made the application.
In his story, there was a wealthy king who lived in a beautiful palace. Outside of his extravagant home were mountains of gold. Anyone in the village was welcome to help himself to as much gold as he wanted.
Some villagers saw the pile of gold as an opportunity to become very wealthy. All throughout their lives, they would push a wheelbarrow up the hill to where the king's palace was. They would shovel the heavy precious gold all day, every day and wheel it back to their own homes. There was no limit on how much they were allowed to take, so tirelessly they wheeled the gold home. By the time they were old, some of these villagers had their own mountain of gold outside their homes.
And then they died. After they died, others came to their mountain of gold with wheelbarrows and began to move the gold to outside their own homes. There was never more gold in the village - it simply moved from one yard to another.
Tushar laughed as he finished his story. He did not understand why so many of us keep spending our precious days moving mountains of gold back and forth across the villages. Wasn't there more to life than shovelling gold, and then leaving it all behind?
Barry Buzza (www.barrybuzza.com and http://barrybuzza.blogspot.com) is senior pastor at Northside church in Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam.
