I was recently encouraged in my radical generosity by a blog taking a refreshing POV shift on the parable of the sower (from Matt 13). A quick and worthwhile read by Michael Mitchel of CAFO, it pivots from the typical “what kind of soil am I”, to analyzing the perspective of the sower – how radical, scandalous, maybe even ‘wasteful’ his choice to sow EVERYWHERE was. And asks shouldn’t WE all be like that?:
“What if we, too, walked with hands overflowing in eager generosity, reflecting God’s delighted heart to give everything away?”
Here at Spokane127, we call for radical hospitality:
-toward kids in foster care who need loving stable homes,
-toward social workers as they toil in their labor,
-toward foster families who need wrap around care as they provide for the kids who’ve been placed with them, and bio-families as they work to be re-united with their kids.
This is the kind of hospitality and generosity that Michael’s blog is talking about.
A few months into my family’s first foster placement, a pastor friend asked me how it was going, and if it looked like things were moving towards adoption. I told him we didn’t know. And then I said, “I’m realizing I just doesn’t matter. The only way to do this ‘right’ is to love him as if he WILL always be with us, even if he won’t; that to do anything less would be wrong. If we as foster parents hold anything back, it will effect this baby boy’s development, and not in a good way.”
We had to go all in or he wouldn’t learn and grow as he should. Was that approach a risk to us as parents. Yes. Was it radical? Yes. Was it “wise management” of our personal resources? Most people would probably say no. Yet, this is the kind of loan God happily co-signs on, in light of His endless reserves. We trust in the God who, “squanders the treasures of heaven in wasteful generosity upon all creation without distinction because He has more than enough to go around.” – Michael Mitchel
We cannot live with a scarcity mindset. We need to live out and give out love generously, trusting our God to replenish us when and where we need it.
So today, be led by The Spirit- where can you sow generously, not only considering the quality of those receiving it; not just considering the “return on investment”? As Michael says, “Our call is not to evaluate the quality of the soil. Our call is to follow in the footsteps of the one who scatters freely so that all might share in the riches and joy of God’s abundance.” Mmm… So good.
Join me in making 2024 a year of living lives of radical generosity!