“I will sing to the Lord, Because He has dealt bountifully with me.” Psalms 13:6 NKJV

This is one day’s bountiful harvest from the garden.

When the word bountiful describes a person, it means someone who “gives generously”. When it describes a thing it means “a large amount”. I have a garden and over the last several weeks, the vegetables have been bountiful; tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, okra, red peppers, orange peppers, banana peppers, and corn. Thank You, God!

The Bible verse above describes God as bountiful because He generously gives us many blessings. God has blessed me with a lot of food from my garden. His sunshine and rain and earth provided a bountiful harvest.  But our God is also bountiful when we do things for other people. When we do something kind or thoughtful or helpful for someone else, God will  bless us, too.

We can show God’s love to the people around us by helping or serving them. We don’t expect anything in return. But sometimes we get an unexpected blessing from helping someone else. Ask your parents to read you the story about the Josh, who didn’t really want to help; but God was still bountiful!

The Reluctant Helper

Josh thought their neighbor, Mrs. Perry, was crazy old and kind of scary. He walked by her house from the bus stop but never looked up. He didn’t want to see her sitting in her faded chair waving out the window; it was creepy. His mom and dad helped her out a lot since Mr. Perry died a few years ago. His mom told him, “The Bible tells us to love our neighbors as ourselves. That means we help when we can.” Josh was fine with that, as long as he didn’t have to help.

Josh bounced into the house, it was finally Friday! His mom was stirring a pot on the stove.  “Josh, I need you to take Mrs. Perry some food I made for her today. I can’t leave my sauce, so you have to do it.” Josh looked up at his mom, “But Mom, I was going to play Lego Star Wars and I don’t want to go to her house! Please…” Mom frowned, “Sorry, Josh, you don’t have a choice. Here’s the bag. Thanks!” And with a quick hug and kiss on his cheek, she was back to stirring.

Bummer! Josh reluctantly picked up the green tote bag his mom always used and walked next door. He rang the doorbell and looked at his feet while he waited. It took Mrs. Perry forever to get to the door, he could hear the floor creaking with each slow step. Mrs. Perry opened the door and smiled, “Hello, Josh, please come in.” She backed up before he could say anything, so he had to follow her in to give her the bag.

“Hello, Mrs. Perry, my mom made this for you and asked me to bring it over,” Josh held out the bag as he shuffled from one foot to the other, hoping to leave. “Thank you, young man, please carry it to the kitchen counter; I don’t do too well with this old cane. Just that way, through the den.” As Josh stepped into the den, he stopped. The walls were totally covered with space pictures; stars, planets, old rocket ships, launch pads, satellites, the moon! “Wow,” slipped out before Josh could think, “Where did you get all of these?” Mrs. Perry smiled, “Put that in the kitchen and come back and I’ll tell you all about these pictures.” Josh jogged to the kitchen counter and plopped the bag down and ran back to the den.

Mrs. Perry was sitting in a big chair and pointed to the matching chair across from her. “My husband and I worked at NASA when it first began in 1958. Mr. Perry was an engineer and I worked in his office. We married and continued working there until we retired.” Josh was mesmerized as Mrs. Perry talked. He soaked in all the details of each story and picture until he heard his mom calling him. “Sorry, Mrs. Perry, I have to go, Mom’s calling. May I come back some time and visit?”

“Of course, Josh, thanks again for bringing the food! Bless you, bye.” Josh ran home; Mrs. Perry wasn’t so bad after all. He couldn’t wait to hear more stories about NASA and space travel. “Thanks, Mom,” Josh said as he ran through the kitchen, “Mrs. Perry is cool!” Josh smiled and thought about all the space pics as he played Lego Star Wars.

This week, with your parents, find someone that you can help in some way. Don’t be reluctant like Josh, gladly and lovingly offer to help someone else and thank God for His bountiful blessings.

Draw a picture or write a few sentences about how you helped someone. Afterwards ask your parents to post your work as a reply to this blog so that everyone can learn how to help others and be thankful to our bountiful God.