Kingdom Gifts

I was just a second grader when he showed up at our back door.  We lived in a duplex not far from the water tower on the poor side of Waycross.  We not only lived on the wrong side of the tracks, but looking back is to know my recently widowed mother with two small children was barely keeping things together.  The man who showed up the back door was in even worse shape.  It is always true that our problems pale in comparison to others.  

Our house was not much, but this guy had no place to live but the road.  Most likely he had jumped off one of the freight trains which ran up and down the busy tracks just beyond the water tower.  When he came to the door, he asked for something to eat.  I remember my mother fixing him a couple of what was likely bologna sandwiches and then watching him as he walked away eating them. It was surely another version of the five loaves and two fish story.  We had very little, but it was sharable and enough to feed one more.  

Over the years I have seen the generosity of the poorest for those who had even less.  While it is easy for us to talk about rising prices and the difficulty in getting by, the truth is most of us have enough to share some of what we have with others.  Maybe they do not show up at our back door anymore, but they are out there somewhere.  Some are hungry.  Some are in need of a warm coat.  Some need help we can give.  A little goes a long way when it is given as a Kingdom gift.