Orange Moon Tuesday, October 21, 2022 "I Want You To Have This"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…

"I Want You To Have This"

    

     What do you give to the Person who has everything?

    "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein" (Psalm 24:1).

    My grandson Jackson helped answer the question many years ago, when he was three years old.  He and his sister Emma had spent the weekend with us, and the time came for them to return home with their parents.  Just before leaving, Jackson came up to me and stuck out his hand, which held a quarter.  "Grandaddy," he said with an expression both sweet and serious, "I want you to have this."  

   The Lord fills some moments with such blessing that we know we will never forget them.  I instantly realized this was one of those.  I smiled, took the quarter, and responded.  "Thank you so much, Jack.  This means so much to me, and I will keep this quarter forever!"  This meant entrusting the treasure to our family keeper of such blessings, my wife Frances.  It also meant the grace of the treasure still has a cherished place in the safekeeping of my heart.  

   What do you give to the Person who has everything?  Jackson's gift speaks to the question in a powerful way.  In the most literal sense, we cannot give anything to God since He is "the possessor of Heaven and earth" (Genesis 14:19).  In the sense of heart, however, we can give Him much.  Jackson's quarter would buy almost nothing in 2010 when he gave it to me (and far less today!).  However, in terms of value, the coin means more to me than I could ever express.  He gave a piece of his heart to my heart when he held out the quarter, along with the echoes of his voice that still resound deeply and beautifully within my soul: "Grandaddy, I want you to have this."  I am not embarrassed to admit that I will never remember that moment without tears forming in my eyes.

   I sometimes speak to our Lord in the terms Jackson voiced to me. "Heavenly Father, I want You to have this."  I then "hand to Him" praise, thanksgiving, awed appreciation of His wonder, and the glad affirmation that I belong to Him for His glory, will, and eternal purpose in the Lord Jesus Christ.  I do so in complete confidence that this blesses His heart: "The prayer of the upright is His delight" (Proverbs 15:8).  Indeed, my heart still delights in Jackson's long ago bestowal of a gift that can buy little of earthly substance, but which purchased a treasured moment that will be with me forever.  Even more, I am certain that our Father's heart feels the same when we "give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name" (Psalm 29:2).

    What do we give to the One who has everything?  So much more than we can imagine.  Thank you, Jackson, for a gift that blessed me in the moment you bestowed it.  It blesses me even more every time I remember it.  And praise You, Lord, for having such a heart that Your children can bestow upon you gifts from our hearts that mean more to You than we will ever know.  "The Lord taketh pleasure in His people" (Psalm 149:4).

    A final thought: the quarter Jackson gave to me was minted in the year of his birth, 2006.  I am sure that at three years old, he did not realize this.  But the One who led him to bestow the gift did.   "I want you to have this."  Jackson gave such a gift, as did the Lord who taught me something wonderful about Himself.  Yes, we can give something to the One who has everything.

"O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto Thee forever."

(Psalm 30:12)

Weekly Memory Verse  

      Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock.

(Matthew 7:24)

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