Three feet above me, perched atop a ponderosa pine branch, squats a chipmunk no taller than my thumb. She embraces a pinecone slightly larger than herself. With nimble twists and turns and rapid flurries of […]
Tag: Generosity
Psalm 37
(A David psalm.) Stop stressing About trouble-makers. Don’t take you cues From those who don’t have a clue About God. These one-hit wonders Will soon be forgotten, The world emptied Of their empty work, Their […]
The true & generous life
I don’t get to edit the Bible according to what I like or dislike. I don’t have the arrogance of Thomas Jefferson, who chucked out whatever he found primitive and unenlightened and kept the moral […]
Thanksgiving & its opposite
Sometimes, we understand something best by taking a look at its opposite. And when it comes to living the grateful life, a quick examination of our complaining is revealing. In their classic Saturday Night Live sketches, […]
Why taxing churches would hurt more than help
There is a meme bouncing around the net which suggests that taxing churches would reduce the tax burden on everyone else to a mere 3%. If it were true, that’d be a huge incentive to […]
The saint behind Santa Claus
When my oldest son was 4, he and two of his little buddies were sitting in a row of carseats talking about Santa Claus. “I can’t wait for Santa Claus to come,” said the first […]
How God's economy works
“It’s the economy, stupid!” Bill Clinton’s one-liner from his successful campaign against the first President Bush has echoed through every election since. There may be other issues on the table, but how the President will […]
Psalm 113 — The greatness of God is made greater in his humble generosity
Reading Psalm 113 surprised me. There seemed to be an abrupt shift from its beginning — where it talks about the magnificence of God — and its end. Here’s the psalm in its entirety: 1 […]
How to receive a gift
Gift-giving can be tough business. But often, receiving gifts is even more difficult. And some of us are downright terrible at it. Recently, my 15-year-old daughter gave her friend a $15 gift card to the […]