What Do You See?

We were asked this week to imagine what are our hopes and visions for our church.  It required thinking about where we are right now and then envisioning a future that is realistic but also idealistic.  Community, ministries, outreach, education... I can see them all.  I have an idea of what I would like to see, and I am sure that there are as many visions as there are members of our church.

That got me thinking, what are our hopes and visions for ourselves?  Whether conscious or subconscious, we all have a mental (ideal) self-image of ourselves, both physical and spiritual.  Think about it.  What do you look like in your mind's eye?  What do you want to look like?  For all of my life I have battled my weight.  Even at my heaviest I saw myself as a tall, willowy beautifully coordinated floating being, graceful and flowing.  And of course she is as gentle and generous as Snow White or Cinderella, everyone and everything good and kind love her.  I could see that watercolor being even if I couldn't make her completely real.

The reality was a bit different.  I was wider than I am tall, frumpy, clumsy, and heavy-footed thanks to bad knees.  A clomping schlub.  I have been working really hard to change that, changing habits, exercising, eating better.  As for disposition, in reality I am closer to a compulsive, critical, perfectionist with control issues, not the loving, generous sprite.  But I know that if I visualize that other me, and work hard, I can become more like the luminous being I know is inside me.


Is that why we give?  What do we get from giving?  I wonder what possessed the widow to give all she had (Luke 21:1-4), why did Zacchaeus make such a radical change, what was the Good Samaritan thinking when he cared for the stranger?  Could it be that they had a self-image that transcended reality, and in giving they were able to become that person?  Generosity allowed them to achieve God's purpose in them - to become doers of the Word, not just hearers?  Giving (tithing) is not just what God wants us to do, it is about who God wants us to become.  God has a bigger, better vision for us than we do for ourselves.  In order to achieve that vision we have to practice and work hard.  We have to choose to be grateful, generous, content, believe that our needs will be provided in order to suppress and resist our all too human tendency to be anxious, fearful, driven by a need to possess.

Giving doesn't give us a golden ticket.  Holding on to things will only prevent us from growing in our relationship with God.  Practicing generosity, really practicing because none of us is perfect, will help us enjoy giving, let us glimpse God's vision for us and the world, maybe incarnate God for each other, and allow us to become who we were made to be.