Giving because He Gave

John 3:16
For this is how God loved the world:
He gave His one and only son
so that everyone
who believes in Him
will not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16

The words bounce off our tongues and the dining room walls as we munch on granola.  The rhythm and repetition is for them, for me, for fun, for memory, for minds, for hearts, for eternity.  This is how God loved the world: He gave His one and only son.  Infinitely many ways to love, but this right here is how God chose to love the world: by giving.  By lavishly filling my need with his excess.  Not His leftovers, His firstborn.  Not His unwanted, His beloved.  Not someone else's, His own and Himself.

And so we give.  We love because He first loved us.  We give because He first gave us.

The choice for Goofball was easy today: straight to his precious animals, one of his favourite horses.  Shep took more time and thought, but came back with the bowling set.