Pockets and Gifts

My husband takes a trip each year to volunteer to build houses.
He has traveled both nationally and internationally.
In each place the style of home is quite different.
In each place someone will have a home that they never had before.

My husband has built houses in India, El Salvador, Haiti, and soon the Philippines.
He goes to be a blessing but he is the one who has been blessed.
In each place he has left a bit of his heart with the people and the children he has met there.
He usually brings two bags with him when he travels.

One bag is for the build itself.
It contains tools for the build that he will donate when the week is finished.
It will also contain work clothes that can also be donated after they are laundered.
The people are so grateful for these donations and make good use of everything.

The other bag is my husband’s clothes to wear when he travels.
He usually stays an additional week and tours the area he is visiting.
He comes home with stories of his adventures.
He comes home with a new perspective on life.

The people are grateful for the smallest thing.
Homes the sizes of some bedrooms will house entire families.
Life is so much harder than what we are used to in our country.
Despite the hardships, the people seem more content than those who have far more.

When my husband and I honeymooned in Mexico, the contrasts were striking.
Next to the resorts in Acapulco people lived in dire poverty.
We were warned at our hotel to beware of beggars.
Watch out for the children; they beg constantly, the concierge said.

We heard so many stories but found them hard to believe.
Until we went to see the cliff divers.
There on the road we were met by countless children who were begging.
Our hearts went out to them, wanting to help, but remembering the warning.

It was impossible to help all of them.
It was possible to help some of them.
One little boy came towards us holding something in his hand.
Chiclets? Chiclets? He asked over and over showing the yellow box to all that passed him.

We couldn’t refuse.
Something about him tugged at our hearts.
We stopped and gave him some money that more than covered the cost of the box of gum.
To our surprise, he tilted the box and took out two Chiclets, one for each of us.

He went on his way approaching other tourists on the road.
Chiclets? Chiclets? We kept hearing over and over.
Perhaps it was then that my husband decided he wanted to go and make a difference.
Not hand over money but rather give of himself, his resources, and his time.

I was thinking about the travel wear my husband has purchased for his many trips.
Travel wear that is breathable, fold-able, and easy to pack.
Travel wear that has numerous pockets.
Pockets in places you can never imagine and can never see.

I remember when he discovered this company and ordered things online.
I remember when the items arrived and he asked us if we could guess the number of pockets.
Pockets in shirts, jackets, vests, and pants that were difficult to find.
Many of our guesses were wrong so he gave us a demonstration.

There were pockets for your cell phone, your iPod, your passport, and your wallet.
There were pockets in sleeves, in linings, in the front, and in the back.
I was amazed since the pockets were unseen yet they were everywhere.
There was nothing about these clothes that seemed to announce, Tourist.

It was the pockets in my husband’s travel wear that reminded me of the Spring Fair.
The Spring Fair was held each spring at my children’s elementary school.
There were the typical games that one plays at a fair with prizes that tend to break much too quickly.
However there was one thing that everyone wanted to do; one person everyone wanted to find.

That was the Pocket Lady.
The Pocket Lady walked around in her long dress with a full apron on top.
The apron was covered with pockets.
Inside the pockets were prizes of all kinds.

Once you found the Pocket Lady, you could choose one of her pockets.
You pointed to the pocket of choice and she very dramatically reached her hand inside.
Every child waited in anticipation to see what the Pocket Lady would pull out of her pocket.
Her prizes always seemed to be the best prizes.

There was something about having to find her.
There was something about knowing that she had good things in her pockets.
There was something about the anticipation.
There was something about the actual gift.

I once read a quote that is so simple but so true.
Each day has a unique gift tucked away within the minutes and hours.
Each day has a gift tucked inside its pockets.
Each day has a Giver from whom all those gifts come.

Every good and perfect gift is from above. (James 1:17)
Like the Pocket Lady, God is the Giver of gifts.
God is the Giver of good and perfect gifts.
Gifts that are right from His hand.

Unlike the Pocket Lady, God calls us to Himself.
God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable. (Romans 11:29)
Once given, God’s gifts remain.
God does not take back a gift that He has given us.

God’s pockets have no bottom.
God’s gifts have no limit.
God’s greatest gift was the gift of His Son, Jesus.
God’s Gift became our salvation when we believe.

Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask for or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations for ever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20, 21)

My husband’s travel wear cannot compare.
The Pocket Lady cannot compare.
We cannot out-give God.
God’s pockets run deep.

How blessed we are!