In a twist on Jesus' own words, you have heard that it was said (by Him), "It is more blessed to give than to receive." Pastor Earl Feddersen, Foundation Webmaster, suggests that this well known passage may not always apply. In fact, sometimes, receiving is necessary...a must! Pastor Feddersen also manages the Giving Catalog and authors the weekly mission devotion, Edit-O-Earl.
Today I read a "Chicken Soup" story by Lisa Marie Finley that she titled, "Snowballs and Lilacs." It is in Chicken Soup for the Mother's Soul 2.
Finley tells about the day she found her birth mother and shared the information with her (adoptive) mother. Her birth mother had died not long before Lisa learned about her. When Finley showed her birth mother's picture to the mother who had raised her, her mother asked, "Is this your real mother?" Lisa Marie Finley wrote:
Biting my lip, a trick I had learned from her to hold back the tears, I realized this wonderful woman of substance in front of me had never seemed more precious than at this moment. A flash of all the years she had spent caring for my brothers and me flickered through my mind, as well as the life she led - a life that knew no other way than to put her children and others first on a daily basis. With the knowledge of what was truly "real," I answered her with borrowed wisdom and responded, "Yes, it's a picture of my birth mother."
In one sense, she meant, "No, it's my birth mother." But Lisa and her mother knew that without this birth mother their wonderful relationship would not have happened.
Later, on Memorial Day, Lisa went to her birth mother's grave. When she first entered the cemetery, she stopped at the grave of the only grandparents she had ever known. She knew immediately that her mother had stopped there earlier because an arrangement of snowballs and lilacs adorned the grave. After paying her respects and remembering the dear people buried there, she went on to look for the other grave.
She couldn't find it. She looked and looked where she thought the plot should be, but with no avail. She knew the marker would be simple, inexpensive and maybe hard to find. Suddenly she found it...not the marker, but another beautiful arrangement of snowballs and lilacs! Her mother had stopped here too and offered a gift of remembrance and thanks to one who had given her so much.
Finley noticed the epitaph that read, "Beloved Mother." She wrote, "Biting my lip, I couldn't hold back the tears as I honored this remarkable woman who had given me life, and my own beloved mother, who had given that life such meaning."
Reading the touching story, I couldn't help thinking how much the world and particularly this writer and her mother would have missed if the first mother had chosen death over life for her daughter. For each of us, everything starts with a gift...God's gift of life. He also gives faith and salvation.
Legally, a mother can choose death for her own child, refusing God's gift of life. Unfortunately, we can also refuse His gift of eternal life. In both cases, it is far, far better to receive.