Friday Friend Giveaway! The Smallest Gifts Grow Big with God - Sharon Jaynes
In my travels, I get to meet the most awesome women! While speaking at Ada Bible Church in Ada, Michigan, I was introduced to Susie Finkbeiner and her amazing gift for storytelling. I read one of her novels, A Cup of Dust, and I was hooked. Since then, I have read every fiction book Susie has published! I’m so excited that she has a brand new release, A Song of Home. I’ve invited Susie to share her heart with us today. At the end of the post, you’ll be invited to leave a comment, which will make you eligible to win not one, not two, but all three novels in Susie’s Pearl series. Let’s welcome my friend, Susie!
My son is rock collector. He isn’t too picky. He’ll gather rocks of any size, any color, whatever he can find in the backyard. Collection in hand, he rinses them with the hose and brings them inside, excited about his newfound treasures.
Then he brings them to me.
“See?” he says, placing them in the palm of my hand. “Aren’t they beautiful?”
“Yes,” I answer.
“Can we put them in the hutch?”
Now, the hutch is in a corner of our living room. It’s where I display treasured items; my grandmother’s old tchotchkes, collectables, antique books.
And now various rocks my son finds in my backyard.
So I open the hutch and put the small stones along the edge of a shelf or between delicate tea cups.
Why am I allowing dull, half broken, plain-jane rocks in my collection of beautiful things? Because my son gave them to me.
He is a generous boy, one who likes giving gifts. But he’s also the kid who has very little money to spend on presents. Poor guy has at least seven years before he can legally get a job.
So, what does he have? Time and a backyard full of rocks.
Those little rocks he gathers for me have become precious collectables.
They make me think of the dull and half broken efforts that I give to God. I come with a handful of underdeveloped abilities, trying to serve Him as best I can.
He takes my small gifts, the only ones I have to give, and holds them in the palm of His hand. I ask him, timid and anxious, if He thinks they are beautiful. He tells me that He does. Closing His fingers over what I’ve offered, He takes them to the place where he keeps all the beautiful things brought by his many children who aim to glorify Him.
To my eye my gifts look dingy and small next to the martyr’s sacrifice or the lives devoted to serving the poor. They seem lackluster when put beside the beautiful gift of the missionary. Seeing what I’ve given compared to what others have brought makes me feel little.
But God stands back and looks at His collection, the presents from His dearly loved sons and daughters. I like to think He smiles and feels that warmth in His chest that parents are apt to feel — that glow of love for their kids.
And somehow, beyond reason, my small gifts become every bit as beautiful to Him as everything else in His collection.
Even the smallest of gifts shine with the reflection of His glory.
Our minds are wrapped up in gift-giving this Christmas season. Leave a comment and share one gift that you can give God today. I’ll randomly select one comment to win a FREE copy of Susie three-book series of novels…The Pearl Spence Novels.
Susie Finkbeiner is the CBA bestselling author of A Cup of Dust, A Trail of Crumbs, and A Song of Home. She’s a wife, a mother, and a novelist learning to live the story God has given her. You can visit her at www.susiefinkbeiner.com
Congratulations to Priscilla, the winner of the FREE copy of Celebrating a Christ Centered Christmas.
