A Sharing Spirit

She comes to Bible study with her grandmother.
She comes every time.
She loves to play with the toys in my basement.
The same toys my children played with are still going strong for a new generation.

She likes to come to Miss Gina’s house.
I like when she comes.
She enjoys playing with the other children.
She has her favorite things to play with and plays well with others.

I confess, I rotate the toys each time we have Bible study.
I don’t want the children to play with the same things all the time.
I get out certain things on certain days so everything seems new and exciting.
They have their favorites but they never know what new thing Miss Gina will get out for them.

She came into my kitchen and stuck out her foot.
She stuck it out in such a way as if to model what she was wearing.
When I didn’t notice at first, she stuck out her little foot a bit more.
She wanted to show me her boots.

They were obviously a Christmas present.
It was the first time she had seen me since Christmas and she wanted to make sure I saw her.
Look at those beautiful boots! I exclaimed.
She stuck her foot out even more positioning herself in the pose of a split.

Two-year-old little girls can wear the kind of boots she was showing me.
They were black with sparkles all over them.
The sparkles almost looked like little stars.
She was so proud of her new boots.

I really like them! I said enthusiastically.
Do you think they would fit me? I asked expecting a giggle and a NO answer.
Yes, she said and meant it.
She had two feet and I had two feet so, of course, her boots would fit me.

I love the naivete of a child.
I love their all-inclusive innocence.
I love the way they don’t see age, or size, or status.
They see a smile, a kind face, and a softly spoken word.

I saw a video that someone posted recently which impacted me greatly.
A man walked down the street and stopped before an outdoor cafe.
He paused before someone who was eating pizza.
I’m hungry; do you think I could have a slice of your pizza?

This same scenario happened over and over.
There were different people doing the asking at different outdoor cafes.
Over and over the answer was the same.
NO, followed by some reason why they couldn’t share a slice of pizza.

The video continued with two men approaching a homeless man on the street.
They had a large pizza box in their hands.
Hey, man, we bought too much pizza, would you like to have this?
The homeless man eagerly took the pizza, said a heartfelt thanks and began to eat a slice.

Not long after, another man approached the homeless man with the pizza box still on his lap.
He sat down on the street next to the homeless man.
It’s hard out here, man; I’m tired and hungry, he said convincingly.
Can I have a slice of your pizza?

Without thinking twice, the homeless man took out a slice of pizza and gave it to the other man.
They sat and ate together.
The kindness of the homeless man touched my heart.
I found myself questioning what my response would have been.

A famous Depression era song was, Brother can you spare a dime?
Written by E.Y. “Yip” Harburg and Jay Gorney it soon became an anthem of sorts.
The song was made popular by Bing Crosby, and Al Jolson and Rudy Vallee.
It was released before Franklin Delano Roosevelt became president and became a hit.

The lyrics tell a story of a beggar who talks back to the system that stole his job.
The writer said that he wrote the song to make people think.
The song asks why the men who built the railroads and the skyscrapers were no longer needed.
The men who went to war serving our country found themselves out of work and in bread lines.

They used to tell me I was building a dream
And so I followed the mob
When there was earth to plow or guns to bear
I was always there right on the job