I’ll admit it. I like to look good. In the process of doing a superb, life-changing Bible study called Sonship, I have discovered how MUCH I like to look good and to get all the praise that goes along with that.
A couple of weeks ago I decided to finally get rid of a bunch of books and homeschooling materials I’m not using. One of them was an excellent book on chores that included name badges and templates. I could have made some money reselling it, but I thought I’d just really like to bless someone by giving it to them for free on Paperbackswap.
I spent a ton of time packaging up over 40 books requested by other paperbackswap members, but when I packaged up the chore book with all the goodies included, I really felt virtuous. I mean, how many people would just GIVE that away, I thought to myself, let alone including the accessories? Most of the time when you ship a book to a paperbackswap member, you receive a thank you from the receiver. I’ve gotten some really nice thank yous from people who comment on the nice condition of the book. So I couldn’t wait to get the thank you for the chore book. Man, that was likely to be some kind of thank you!
So I got the message that the member received the book. And I got messages that people had received other books and I got some thank yous for them. But no thank you for my incredible generosity! I couldn’t believe it! In fact, not only did I get no thank you, but I got two complaints from people that their books had writing in them, which is against the rules. (I won’t try to look good by explaining that I did not intentionally send books with writing in them. lol) What I will explain is that I got exactly what I deserved. And it doesn’t look good on me.
“So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as
the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored
by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.” Matthew 6:2
That’s a beautiful post Mel ! The picture? Maybe not so much. 😉 Although that’s a pretty nice hat and I do like your makeup – I think. I suppose there’s a gift in giving – where you don’t accept or need thanks – or criticism either. But I’m glad to know that you won’t stop giving just because of a couple of bad experiences. A 90% success rate is pretty good!