Be A Grateful Receiver by April H. Cranford

I spoke to a woman in our community who talked about generosity. Friends, family, colleagues, faith communities, neighbors, and even strangers were providing help to her family during a difficult season in their life. She said, "I prefer to be on the giving end rather than the receiving end of generosity. However, during this hard time in our family’s life, I am storing up all the creative giving so that one day soon, I can return the generosity to others."  

Stepping into the role of a receiver is not always easy. Being a receiver can be a vulnerable stance that comes with a loss of identity or freedom of choice. Grateful receivers show that giving matters. Through each gift received rather than rejected, both the receiver and the giver become extenders of God’s vision to the world.

Generous people are grounded in being grateful receivers from God.

Proverbs 11:24-25 says, "Some give freely, yet grow all the richer; others withhold what is due, and only suffer want. A generous person will be enriched, and one who gives water will get water." A generous person's life is enriched because they acknowledge that everything and everyone is a gift. Life is a gift. Family is a gift. Job is a gift. Worship is a gift. Money is a gift. Home is a gift. Today is a gift. Once a person realizes that nothing, absolutely nothing, comes to them by their own doing, it is only then they can let go of pride and receive the gift of God's love.  

Whenever we hold on to God's gifts, we are shaped by God's wisdom. Therefore, as faithful followers, we give as freely to others as God has given to us. Whenever we freely give, we grow richer in God’s grace, and life is enriched for all eternity.

People often ask, "How much should we give in terms of time, skill, or money?" However, we need to ask first, "How much do we want to receive?" Christ gave his whole life so that we would receive not 20 percent or 50 percent, but rather 100 percent of abundant and eternal life. 

We must shift our vision from a human perspective of scarcity to a divine perspective of abundance. Whenever we live in scarcity, we question how much we should give, thus limiting the work of God in our lives and for our world. By contrast, whenever we live in abundance, we realize how much we have received, which opens our lives to God's perspective of endless possibilities and unlimited resources. Thus, we must first step into the role of a grateful receiver of God's love to become God's faithful servant in the world.  

Thanksgiving and Christmas this year may not look like the holidays we have experienced in the past, nor the ones we will experience in the future. Each holiday is unique, with its own story to tell. The empty chairs around the table may remind us of family members who celebrate at their own homes this year or family members who have gone to their eternal home in years past.

At family gatherings during the holidays the past four years, my father’s chair has been empty. Throughout his life, Dad revealed the miracle of how to be a grateful receiver. Since Dad was on disability and Mom worked as a cashier, our family had a low household income. My parents persevered in providing for needs within the home. However, in reflection on those years, additional people helped meet our family's needs. Boxes of clothes arrived in the mail. Grandparents paid for school field trips. Large repairs for the home and vehicles were covered with checks received in the mail. I watched my father write countless thank you notes for every gift received, from shirts at Christmas to jars of blackberry jam in the summer. I listened to him express appreciation on the phone to relatives. Through his humble ways and grateful heart, he chose to receive rather than reject help during difficult seasons of life. Perhaps since our family freely received, we, in turn, learned how to give freely.  

As grateful receivers, may we store up all the creative gifts from God, so in all of our days, not just during the holidays, we, as faithful servants of God in the world, can return the generosity to others.

April was born and raised in the mountains of Boone, North Carolina. She earned her Master of Divinity from Union Presbyterian Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina. April and her avid-angler husband, Reed, reside in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley with their two amazing daughters, River and Haven, along with furry companion Daffy. April finds her joy with mountains in the background and mission in her heart.