God Loves a Cheerful Giver

The smell of bread being baked filled the house. Every week my grandmother would bake twelve loaves of bread. How much bread could three people eat in a week?

In my mind those loaves of bread were symbolic of my grandmother's generous heart. On the days Grandmother baked I would be sent out all over the patch (the neighborhood) delivering her gifts of fresh baked bread. The Bible teaches that God loves a cheerful giver and I never doubted that God loved my grandmother.

Grandmother remembered every one's birthday. For some of her friends she would be the only one to remember. Grandmother delighted in writing letters. What joy it was as a little girl to receive a letter from my grandmother written with her phonic spelling that expressed her French accent. I never received a letter were she wouldn't write at the bottom, P.S. I joint you a hanky, or I joint you a dollar.

Grandmother's life had not been a life of great wealth and ease. She was born in France on November 10, 1891. When she was eight years old her mother died. Every year she would send me for her box of treasures. She would take out the postage stamp size picture of her mother and kiss it. She was a young women during World War I. It was during this time that she met and married my Italian grandfather. Her infant son died in Italy.

She came to America and became a citizen. While her husband worked in the coal mines my grandmother worked at home raising her family during the lean years of the depression. When World War II started her two sons enlisted. Grandmother fully understood a life of sacrifice. Grandmother, however, didn't spend her time focused on what she gave but on what she'd been given.

When I reflect on the lessons my grandmother taught me I think about the joy she found in giving. It was in her last years, however, that I discovered the secret of her generosity. She had sold her home and was living with her daughter. A hospital bed had been placed in the downstairs living room. When I would visit she was always overflowing with joy and would tell me that she was the richest woman alive because she had all she needed. Her life of giving had been an overflow of a grateful heart.

Lord Jesus, thank you for the example my grandmother gave me. Thank you for letting me see a life that overflows with gratitude for what you have done for them by giving to others. Thank you for the lesson Grandmother taught me that no one is ever poor who has something to give.