I see God in sharing.

Saturday, my friends the Bogues threw a party. They bought pizzas and inflated their giant water slide/bouncy house/castle o’ joy. They filled a bucket with ice and popsicles, and we sat on their porch eating frozen fudge, laughing and listening, talking, too.

If that had been it, the bouncy house and the food and the friends, we’d have called it a smashing success. But that wasn’t it.

Natalie and Matthew have two kids, Katie Grace and Luke. Katie Grace will be in first grade next year. Luke is four (They’re the oh-so-precious kiddos in the top left box above). Katie Grace and Luke, like so many children, had a toy problem—too, too many. The toys filled a playroom. And spilled into their bedrooms. And found their way into the kitchen. The whole house was being overrun.

Natalie and Matthew decided something needed to done—to reclaim the house and, better, to reclaim their kids’ hearts. So, they sat down with their offspring and had a serious talk about the dolls and cars and action figures and blocks and books and whatnots. A couple days later, Katie Grace and Luke had decided to give away seventy percent of their toys.

And so they threw a party. A toy giveaway party. With pizza and a water-slide.   

The toys were separated into bags, grouped into categories, the batteries all replaced. Parents did the “toy-shopping” inside while the kids ran wet and wild outside. It was delightful. And just so Jesus-y.

Jesus loves sharing. AND He’s a fan of parties.  He’d have loved this (He loved this), right?

I see God in two kids handing out toys, watching their friends giggle with bubbling joy.  I see God in seven pizzas, paid for by the same people giving the toys away, the same people who opened their house, the same people who paid the water bill on the all-day water slide. 

I see God in sharing. In so much sharing.