Giving

According to Aesop, a miser sold all his possessions and bought a lump of gold, which he then buried in a hole beside an old wall.  Every day he went to visit it.  One of his friends took note of his frequent visits and decided to watch more closely. He soon discovered the secret of the hidden treasure and while no one was watching, he dug it up and stole it.  The Miser came back the next day and found the hole empty.  He tore out his hair and cried out load moans of grief.  His friend observing his grief came to the man and said, "Please do not grieve so.  Instead, why don’t you go and take a stone, and place it in the hole where the gold used to be.  You can pretend the gold is still there.  It will be just the same for you as when the gold was there since you never made any use of it.”  All of us should do the best we can with what we have been given.

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J. Michael Shannon is professor of preaching at Cincinnati Bible College in Cincinnati, OH.