A few years ago we were at a small church in Piggott, Arkansas. I was watching TV one afternoon and they had this segment called “in the garden” – it was right before the first freeze of the season. He looks straight at the camera and says, “If you to have tulips in the spring – you must plant them NOW. You have to plant them before the first freeze. So like the mindless person that I am, I dropped everything and bought some tulip bulbs. I didn’t just buy a few I bought 50 of them – they came in this big bag. Amanda thought I was nuts. For some reason, I didn’t get them in the ground that day. We were at Amanda’s parents house and If you can picture Barney Fife bragging about being a tulip farmer – that was my attitude. I told her dad – I’m going to plant tulips, but not just a few – I’m going to plant 50. He looks at me, and says – I’ve tried to grow them here, and they just won’t grow. I wake up the next morning – I dig some holes for the tulips, but instead of planting 50, I planted 15 – way less than 1/2 . When spring came – we had this pretty flowerbed of 15 tulips. I kept the 35 bulbs as a reminder – when you sow sparingly, you will reap sparingly. When you give to God believing that he will not bless your gift – you will hold back, and he has less to bless.
I want to live a life that God will bless – I want to give God the chance to pour out his blessing in my life – so that I can bless and give to those around me.