Giving and Getting

"now look, it is dry"

Joshua 9:12

I had to use a laundry "trick" this morning.  For my Awesome Girl.  We were getting ready to go over to my folks' house, to visit with my sister and her family, who are in town.  And my daughter was looking for a particular pair of jeans to wear.

Parenthetically, can I just say?  We're having a surprising amount of "jeans weather" in Southern California.  Cloudy until the afternoon, and only high 70s or low/mid 80s.  I am just loving it.  I'm pretty sure I'm gonna pay for it with the hottest September on record, so I'm trying to enjoy what we've got now!

Anyhow, so my girl was looking for the jeans she wanted to wear, and we found them in the washing machine ~ clean, yes, but hardly pret-a-porter. 

So I did what my mother taught me to do if you want something to dry quickly.  Put it in the dryer with one dry towel.  That's it.  With only one wet item, the heat of the dryer can be concentrated on that item.  And the dry towel will help absorb the wet, allowing the jeans to dry faster.

I know; it's not rocket science.  But it's a helpful trick when you're in a hurry.

All of this made me think of that old joke:  What gets wetter and wetter the more it dries?  Answer:  a towel.

I know.  I'll give you a minute to get your giggling under control. 

I loved that joke when I was a kid ~ the wordplay of it and the fact that it's true.  The towel is performing a service to us when it dries our hands, or our bodies.  But in the process, it becomes what we used to be:  wet.   And sometimes I think we can feel that way when we're giving of ourselves:  our energy, our time, our skills... it takes from us. 

But not everything is like that.  Not everything we offer takes from us.  Like grace.  Mercy.  Forgiveness.   That stuff we get from Him, so as the saying goes, "There's plenty more where that came from." 

It means, of course, that we need to be frequently in touch with the Source of these blessings.  But that time with Him, in prayer in in His Word, will enable us to give and give without feeling empty.  He fills us, to enable us to fill others.  

Sort of makes us the answer to the question, "What gets fuller and fuller the more it fills?"  So pour out!

~ "Now may the God of hope fill you

         with all joy and peace in believing" ~

Romans 15:13

~