A Multiplication Lesson

Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure shaken together and running over will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

Luke 6:38

Yesterday, a sweet friend presented me with a lovely figurine of a little hummingbird drinking from the throat of a tiny orange trumpet flower. I was transported back to a time several years before.

I was packing up my belongings before heading to our new home across the state. I had nurtured a vine with little orange trumpet flowers and watched it grow to a large, healthy plant. I tried desperately to squeeze this favored plant into our tightly packed car. Reluctantly, I relinquished it to the care of a friend as we headed off.

Arriving at our new home, I ventured to the back yard. To my amazement, I was met by a carpet of beautiful little trumpet flowers cascading over and down a pagoda. It was the very type of plant I had left behind. I considered my first plant to be large but it was miniscule compared to the one I now owned.

I learned an immediate, tangible lesson from God. Anything He asks me to give up can be multiplied and given back. Something small in the hands of God can become gigantic.

Jesus wasn’t worried when He had 5,000 mouths to feed and only a few loaves and fish. He took what was given to Him, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to those who gave it as well to many, many others.

Jesus is a giver. He asks us to be givers, also. Although I gave reluctantly, He still blessed me with much more.

I continue to learn this lesson. Some things are easier to let go of than others. Some things take time. Some things come back differently than expected. But God’s way is always best.

Every spring I watch the hummingbirds dart from flower to flower, and I remember God’s multiplication lesson. His hands are the safest place for anything.

Terri