When I got to Bible study this morning I quickly said hello to everybody then stepped into the kitchen. Turning the corner, I fully expected to see a chocolate-chip-banana-pancake-factory (like usual), but instead I just saw a cold bagel all alone in a ziplock bag. “You’re mine!” I thought to myself with an inner voice full of Smeagol-like determination. I pretty much deserved that bagel after being let down so violently by my pancake expectations. As I smothered my precious blueberry trophy with honey nut cream cheese, I realized that there were probably seven other people in that kitchen. Am I really gonna be the one to eat this? Thankfully, I found myself handing one of the halves to my roommate, and as I was cream cheesing my half, another thought crossed my mind: What if I give this half to someone else? Ok, pause—that is what real generosity looks like: giving up something you desire in order to bless someone else. I wish I could tell you that I gave away my entire bagel, but generosity is hard. In fact, if it’s not hard, it might not be true generosity. I ended up sharing one bite of my half before scarfing down the rest of it myself. I might have been selfish this morning, but at least I learned something: Giving away that one bite was wayy more satisfying than it would have been to keep it, and I wish I would have given away more of it.
