Jodelle is an amazing woman who lives out her faith in huge ways. I am blessed to know her. She is the generous friend of ours who did the "boardin' for hte boyces" event in Missouri. She is a personal trainer and a woman who truly lives a life of love.
Just had to share this devotional that she wrote:
Delle's Daily Devotion #802 - Learn to Share
Proverbs 9:9 - "Instruct the wise and they will be wiser still; teach the righteous and they will add to their learning."
I learned so much on my last fitness training seminar. I can already see improvements in my students and clients based on what new tools I've implemented. It was not easy going through the 7 hours everyday for 6 days solid of rigorous physical training, but it was well worth it as my goal is to be the best fitness trainer/teacher/instructor I can be. But what if I had gone through all that training, and come back with all that knowledge and not implemented or used any of it? What a waste it would have been of my time, my resources, my clients time away from me, and my family's time apart if I had not used what I had learned. What if I just left that wealth of knowledge locked up inside me and kept it only for myself and my physical training, or worse, didn't even use it at all?
Alot of people live their lives this way. They have learned so much about life through parents, school, sunday school, sitting in church and bible studies, studying in college, life experiences, reading books, and researching and yet there are still so many people in need in the world, and in pain, in need of help from others, and lost. Many of us have sat and listened and know of many ways to help others, and yet are we doing it? Are we taking that knowledge we've been blessed with and sharing it with others? Or are we wasting our time here on earth just gathering knowledge yet not really sharing it with others? We've been taught to share, both in kindergarten and in the bible, but have we been sharing with the neighbor down the street who is destitute? We've learned that kindness is a better reaction than anger, but do we still slam on the horn when someone cuts us off? We watch the news and read stories of all the hungry countries in the world, and while we are piling our plates high at Thanksgiving, are we thinking about how we must have the resources to help those hungry countries or we wouldn't be able to pile our plates high - and then do we send that money or donate to charities in foreign countries or go visit them ourselves to feed the hungry? We've been taught by our parents to be polite and honest and speak only when spoken too, but are we teaching our children this, or are we just giving them whatever it is they want to avoid conflict? We've been taught that love covers a multitude of sins, and that love is the greatest thing in the world, and that God is love and all we need is love, but yet, is our day focused on how we are going to be giving that love away or is it focused on how we can achieve more love and acceptance from others? Can't we just give for the sake of giving? Can't we just share what we've learned and not be so self-absorbed that we forgo the needs of others, the needs of the lost, and the needs of those hurting and hungry? What benefit is all our life of learning if we don't share that knowledge with others? What benefit is God's love to someone who someone if they never experience it? How much of our life is wasted is we don't live out the purpose of sharing with others what our Creator has shared with us? It's not an accident that you are who are and that you've experienced and learned what you have. It's been ordained by some Creator greater than our minds can comprehend and we've been allowed to experience and learn what we have so that we may use that learned experience to help others. God has instilled so much goodness in you. We are made in His image the Bible tells us, and God is good, so we are made with goodness too. Now it's our job to share that goodness, to create more love by giving love, to be kind, compassionate, honest, and selfless. We have the ability to change lives with our Creator working in and through us in the lives of others.
As you pile your plate high this Thangsgiving, I hope you will say a prayer of thankfulness for the bounty set before you. Then I hope you will think of ways that you can be a bounty of goodness to someone else in the week to come. Ask God to reveal ways that you can share what you've learned in life, and share what resources you have, and to give all that you can give, and love more than you ever though you could, and in essence share God with whomever He enlightens you to share with. Avoid learning for the sake of hoarding knowledge, but learn for the sake of helping others by what you yourself have been blessed to learn. You have so much to offer because you've been given so much. Just take a look around you at all the things you've accumulated, the credentials behind your name, the blessings of family and friends, and see those just a drop in the bucket at what you Creator has done for you. Then try to view them as ways that you can help someone else.
Great Teacher, thank You for teaching us all that you have, and enriching our lives with knowledge that not only has helped us but that can be used to help others. I pray that you will help us view our day as a new day of new ways that we can help others and to take every oppurtunity to help those hurting, lost, different than us, hungry, and even those who deserve love the least. Thank you that we can learn to share. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.
