“Smile!”
God loves a cheerful giver.
– 2 Corinthians 9:7b (NIV)
In his book He Was One of Us, Dutch artist Rien Poortvliet depicts a number of events in Jesus’ life on earth. One of these events is The Feeding of the 5,000. The scene is a vast ocean of people, shoulder-to-shoulder, crowded onto a two-page spread in this large coffee table volume. In this horde of humanity, the subtle but intriguing focal point the viewer’s eyes are drawn to (at least mine were) is the face of a young boy. And on his face is a smile. Not a Cheshire cat grin, mind you. Just a simple, pleasant smile. I think the artist wanted to convey two things in this picture. First, the smile belonged to the lad who gave his five small barley loaves and two little fish to Jesus. Second, the boy shared what he had not reluctantly or grudgingly, but gladly and cheerfully.
There are some nature photographers who, upon finding a special location, want to keep that information a closely-guarded secret. Fortunately, there are other folks who work outdoors with a camera who willingly share their special places and even their techniques. One of the people in the latter group is Bill Robertson, a professional photographer for more than twenty years. Bill has enthusiastically told me about and taken me to a number of new photogenic spots. Below are several examples:
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Recently, I’ve been reading in The Message, Eugene H. Peterson’s penetrating paraphrase of the Bible. One of the things that stood out for me in the book of Matthew was Jesus’ instructions for his followers regarding generosity.
Let me tell you why you are here . . .
You’re here to be light,
bringing out the God-colors in the world.
God is not a secret to be kept . . .
Be generous with your lives.
– Matthew 5:13,14,15
You have been treated generously,
so live generously.
– Matthew 10:8
It seems to me the generosity Jesus spoke of and the cheerful giving Paul wrote about really don’t have a whole lot to do with what I’m giving, who the recipient is, or even the amount or the quantity. But I think it has quite a bit to do with my attitude or motivation. Sharing with other folks because of all God has done for me can put a smile in my heart as well as on my face. And it helps me to remember the example of a small boy two thousand years ago.