The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.    (Galatians 5:22-23)

Those who belong to Christ live by the Spirit and are guided by the Spirit. Authentic and consistent generosity is evident fruit of the Spirit. When I reflect upon that God-created reality, I cannot help thinking about my father, Boyce Whitener. He has been a conduit for the Lord's blessings for 73 years. I have been on the receiving end of that personal conduit for both tangible and intangible blessings for 45 years.

Just the other day I reflected upon rather unusual evidence of my father's generosity. It was sometime during March 1979. I believe it was a Friday afternoon. I had just returned home from my high school. In those days I sported a 1970 Dodge Coronet 440 with a 318 V-8 engine. I had saved up enough money working at a local grocery store to purchase my first car for $750 in cash. But like many high schoolers, I hadn't always figured out how to budget for the other expenses related to my "wheels." During an especially wet and icy stretch in the late winter, my father grew concerned about the status of my tires. You see, my Dodge chewed up starters every six months and the front-end never seemed to stay aligned. Result-- premature tire wear.

On that March afternoon, my father asked for the keys to my car. About an hour later he returned with four new tires-- with raised, white letters! As he drove into the driveway, he was grinning from ear to ear. He told me that he and my mother had returned from the tax accountant that day and there was a small refund. They could think of no better way to spend that money than to purchase four new tires for my car.

Now, I know this sounds like a bizarre memory to freshen up 28 years later. But the memory actually comes to me afresh every tax preparation season when I (along with the rest of society) start to tighten up and put on the lens of scarcity. I seldom call upon my father for tangible assistance anymore. I didn't even ask him in 1979 for a set of tires for my car. He gave them to me out of his own Spirit-quickened generosity. I thank the Spirit of God who has blessed me with the personal example of powerful generosity in my father. Through him I have experienced an echo of the Heavenly Father's unlimited, unconditional, free-flowing generosity.

Let us pray. . . Lord God, thank you for the fruit of generosity so blessedly displayed through the words and deeds of the saints. Stir us by their example to be generous people in and out of tax season. Amen

Contributed by Pastor Dan
Sunday March 18, 2007
Liturgical Year C Week 16