Blessing Without Money

I was over at my sister-in-law’s house babysitting while she is at church practicing for something. We brought over some pancakes since I did not have time to eat breakfast before coming over here. Sitting down with my pancakes, I noticed a thank you note on the table. I admit, I peaked. It was from our pastor, he was thanking them for bringing them dinner after his wife fell. My first thought was “it’ll be nice when we have money to bless people like that.” Followed by, “why do we have to have money to be a blessing to those around us? What kinds of things can we do right now to be a blessing?”

Let us back up a bit so I can give some background about where we are right now. 18 months ago we moved in with my brother and his family. My husband had recently graduated from college and gotten a BA in Business, so the plan was to stay with my brother for a month or two until my husband found a job and we could move out. The funny thing about plans are that God often has something else in mind, something usually a bit more fruit producing, if you know what I mean. We were with my brother (there were 12 of us living in that house, by the way) for four months before we moved in with my father-in-law. Still hoping, praying, and thinking that we would be here a just a couple months before hubby would find a job and we would have our own place. He did get a job doing construction for a couple months last summer, then got a night job at a local resort. The pay was too low for us to move into our own place, so we figured that while he was working there we’d look for a better job then move out. Well, do I need to remind you that God’s plans for us are often different than our own? Last week my husband was laid off and the resort closed. So much for that idea. We weren’t making enough money to save anything the last few months so when I say we have no money I mean it. We are rationing our gas and only driving when we really need to, like to go to church. Those around us have really blessed us. Letting us stay rent free, buying us food, giving us clothes. It’s hard for sure, not having our own place, but really it’s so much more than we deserve so I can’t complain too much.

Anyway, back to my pondering. When we have nothing to give, we have no money to feed ourselves let alone buy food for someone else, how on earth can we be a blessing to those around us? Surely, we can pray for those around us so we aren’t so focused on our own menial problems. Is there anything else though? Email is free, so shooting someone an encouraging message works. How often do you get messages from people just letting you know you are being prayed for? It’s really nice. What about just listening? Staying after church a little longer to talk to someone and actually listen to them. What other things can be done that don’t involve money? I’m not sure, so I’ll be praying about it.