How to Raise Selfless Kids in a Self-Centered World by Dave Stone

Author:Dave Stone
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2013-01-23T00:00:00+00:00

Meanwhile, Back at the Barn . . .

Remember my grandfather’s auction? From heaven’s perspective that event must have looked like a groundswell of greed. When my mom walked away from the bartering in the barn, she was dejected and emotionally distraught. The beloved quilt—so rich in

When we live

with an attitude

of generosity,

it can be a key

aspect of our

legacy and a

characteristic

that will show

up again and

again in the

branches of our

family tree.

memories of her mom—was destined to collect dust in an antique store or, at best, be purchased by someone completely oblivious to our family story.

At that moment I felt that absolutely nothing could be done to redeem this painful scene of utter selfishness.

But I was wrong.

Little did we know that inside the barn, when Mom left, the auction took a strange twist. My older brother sized up the situation and began bidding. At the time Jeff was a dirt-poor preacher, and he had absolutely no earthly interest in quilts, but he had a lot of interest in his mother’s feelings.

Several minutes later the gavel came down, the auctioneer yelled, “Sold!” and they folded up Jeff’s purchase. He walked out of the auction barn and over to where Mom was standing; she was completely unaware of what had transpired. Jeff handed her the quilt and said, “I love you.”

They hugged. We cried.

On that day, before my very eyes, I saw the power of generosity heal some of the deep pain caused by selfishness. A son’s generosity changed in a heartbeat everyone’s experience of that miserable day.

But Jeff’s thoughtful act didn’t come out of the blue. He had been raised by a mother who chose to emulate her own mother’s godly generosity rather than her father’s greed. Jeff’s generosity also came from a father who taught him how to slip a gift of love under an office door in the middle of the night. And, ultimately, Jeff’s action was prompted by the heart of heaven itself. By the example of God’s generous and sacrificial giving of another unexpected Gift, wrapped not in a quilt but in swaddling clothes and laid in a feeding trough.

Years later my brother would say, “I spent more than I had. I paid more than I should have. But I have never regretted buying that quilt.”

The words of English author Elizabeth Asquith Bibesco come to mind: “Blessed are those who can give without remembering, and take without forgetting.”16

“For God so loved the world that he gave . . .” (John 3:16, emphasis added).

Love. Sacrifice. A legacy of generosity.

We never look more like God than when we give.

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