ACE #390: It's Only Two Dollars

I think I should tell myself, "Welcome back!"  I know it has been a while since we blogged, but life happens.

Yesterday, I was sitting in the parking lot of Kroger.  A young lady came up to my car and told me she only had 83 cents and needed some gas to get on the other side of town.  I told her I would give her whatever money I had in my change purse; I had $2.  I handed it to her and she said "thank you" and walked to a car parked behind where I was parked.  The gas station was in front of me.  When I got out of the car, another lady told me she knew who the girl was because she was usually at another store on the other side of town doing the same thing.  She had already told the girl that she recognized her and was going to get a police officer to come over where they were standing.  So, the girl and her boyfriend rushed away.  Another women said that she told them if they needed food, then she would buy them food, but she would not give them money.  Both women said that I was a "good one" for giving them anything.  

I responded, "Well, it's only two dollars."
  
The younger of the two women said, "Doesn't that just make you mad?  We go out here everyday and work for our money and they just beg and bum off of people."
  
The older of the two women said, "Well, the good Lord will bless you."
  
I said, "He already has.  I just found five dollars that I didn't even know I had."

The reality is that I had no idea if they girl was going to use the money for something legitimate or not.  But it did not really matter to me because it was the spirit in which I gave her the money.  I gave it to her because I thought I was being helpful.  The two women even viewed the act in very different ways.  To be honest, I was grateful that it wasn't me that was in the situation where I felt like I had to beg someone else for the money.  Sometimes you just have to be thankful for having "only two dollars" to give. Some people have nothing at all.

2 Corinthians 9:6-7 English Standard Version (ESV)

The Cheerful Giver

⁶ The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully^[a] will also reap bountifully. ⁷ Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.