Unstinginess..

After hearing a retelling of some of The Béma podcast.. on generosity and the children of Abraham.

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Oh God you are so gen-er-ous yourself.

If Abraham, who lived so gen'rously

with guests who came his way, was not all health,

but had his problems, immaturities;

then, somehow, I am heartened by those who, 

would see themselves as progeny of him,

so they would step out, like him, trusting you,

to somehow make "ends meet", and "back" that whim.

I want to be more like him in that thing,

and less like him in other ways where he

would trust his insights, but not you who'd bring

them all to him, and help him thus to see.

His fear of others' jealousy and greed,

turns out to be an insight in this world.

But could he trust you with these other needs,

just like he learned to do when folk were hurled

at him by you (and even when you came

to him in guise of strangers there yourself).

In all his life on Earth, you hardly blamed

him for these immaturities, unwealths.

You simply took his friendship, grew his trust

within the bounds that he would let that be

(you rarely forced his hand, unless you must

(or chose to) 'coz you saw what love could see),

encouraged him by sharing your own thoughts,

and list'ning to his fears, unfounded as

they may well be (like when you drew his short-

straw, and he thought you'd foster injustice).

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cf. A woman I know well, with her grandchildren; &

Jesus' words on giving (not as a self-serving mechanism for gaining kudos) and that euphemism for generosity (bright eyes), and stingyness (dull eyes): [in a translation called The Message, where the translator tries to capture this:

“Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse!—stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe from moth and rust and burglars. It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being. “Your eyes are windows into your body. If you open your eyes wide in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light. If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a musty cellar. If you pull the blinds on your windows, what a dark life you will have! “You can’t worship two gods at once. Loving one god, you’ll end up hating the other. Adoration of one feeds contempt for the other. You can’t worship God and Money both. “If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don’t fuss about what’s on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds. “Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? All this time and money wasted on fashion—do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them. “If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes. Matthew 6:19‭-‬34 MSG

The juxtaposition of generosity and stinginess (and its synonyms).

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