Looking at this photo you see a place where there were once three blooms. Two have flourished while the third has withered away. There is no way of knowing for sure what happened to the middle flower, but it seems likely that there were not enough resources to support them all.
Looking at these flowers I began to wonder what resources am I using to excess and not leaving enough for others?
This is an important question to ask in this world where there are enough resources to share and yet some many go hungry, but the more I reflected on this image the more I wondered how can I be more like the middle flower? What can I give up so that others around me can flourish?
That kind of sacrificial love is scary. We are taught to believe that if we give too much up, we will end up like that middle flower – withered and with nothing left to give but I don’t think that is true.
Growing up I was blessed to get to witness part of the life of one of the most generous people I have ever met. My grandfather, Herb Quickfall, was a child during the depression. As a young boy he would be sent out to sit on the tractor when the bank came to collect and explain that the tractor to belonged to his grandfather and not his father so they couldn’t take it away. He grew up in a time when food and resources were scarce. Even in old age he hated eating macaroni because that was something that could be bought cheaply and in bulk, so he had his fill of it in his early years.
It would have been easy for him to feel the need to hoard his money in later years so he would never have to worry about that kind of scarcity again but instead he chose to love indiscriminately and to do his best to help anyone in need.
When friends and family needed a loan to buy a house or start a business, he was there to lend whatever he had. He loaned and rented land on his small farm to many people and causes over the years . He even hired one of his old cubs (when the man was in his 60s) to come and mow lawn – which was as much an opportunity to help the man financially as it was a chance to check on his well being each week.
Grandpa gave generously of his physical and financial resources, but he gave even more generously of his love and care for all creation.
We spent many years helping Grandpa hunt for puffballs and morels. They were a favourite treat of his, but they were also an excuse to go and visit with a neighbour and share the fruits of our search. He would always deliver tapes of worship services and newsletters from the church in person so he would have a chance to visit with each person along the way.
When there was someone new at any event, he would always be among the first to talk to them. Our family often joked that he was looking for someone who hadn’t heard the same story a hundred times, but the reality was that he always went out of his way to make everyone feel included.
He loved generously in all situations and despite the fact that he would tell you he didn’t have many friends when he died there were hundreds of people at his funeral who had been touched by his stories and by his love and I think each of us there learned to love a little more deeply because of him.
I hope this image and this story will remind you to love deeply and give generously. It is not always easy – love is not free from pain – but it is worth more than you will ever know!