How Much Is Enough?

Inspired by/copied from Waving or Drowning?

Get The Giving Tree At Amazon.com
or read it in video on YouTube.com.
"And so the boy gathered her apples...
cut off her branches...
cut down her trunk...
and the tree was happy...
'I have nothing left to give...I am sorry...
[But] an old stump is good for sitting and resting.
come, boy, sit down.
Sit down and rest.'
And the boy did.
And the tree was happy."
How can we know if we are giving enough? C.S. Lewis has the perfect answer to this universal question:

"I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am
afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. In other
words, if our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc. is
up to the standard among those with the same income as our own, we are
probably giving away too little…. There ought to be things we should
like to do and cannot do because our charitable expenditures exclude them."
- C.S. Lewis -
On the other side of the coin, how can we know if we are giving too much? Oh that's simple: it's impossible to give too much. Unless of course you think Jesus, the epitome of love, gave too much. The work of loving others is never finished, and why would we want it to be? How in the world would we be fulfilled if we could not love others? If we all were perfect, we would be like God, Himself. So, since we're not, we all need love all of the time, and God sure wants to see us dole it out. So if none of us are perfect, and the job of loving sacrifice is never done, then how can we ever give too much of anything?

It is humbling to consider whether or not I give enough. I have to admit that I do not. I know, I just said that nobody ever can; so, I also have to admit that I hardly TRY hard enough. That is the real question. Whether or not we TRY too much.

Are people in need around you? Could you do a little more of something, anything, to help them out?

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Parking Lot Patience

I attend Waubonsee Community College(WCC) in Sugar Grove, Illinois, USA. Because it is a community college, everybody commutes to the campus. In fact, many students drive from one side of the campus to the other if they have classes on both ends. This activity is especially frequent when it gets colder (like now). Oh and there is fairly limited parking at WCC.

Everyday, before every class, there is a little competition in the parking lot for the closest spot. Cars whizz up and down full rows, and the drivers crane their necks to glimpse an open space first. As time goes the competition moves further and further from the building, but some extremely hopeful drivers can still be seen scanning the rows nearest to the building. Does it seem right that two people can go from having great conversation and laughing together in class to holding animosity towards each other over a 9x18 foot piece of pavement? Would you feel proud of yourself if you aggressively sped up to and into a parking space to beat another driver only to get out of your car and see that he parked one car over? Now how do you feel walking into the building with them near you? (I've seen it happen; it's funny [and kinda pitiful] when it's not me who stole the spot.)

Today, for the first time, I parked at the edge of the parking lot and happily fought the chilling wind and snow over the next 500 feet to the building that my next class was in. I survived. Now, I'm not saying you always have to park at the very edge of the parking lot. I did because there were probably about 10 spaces left in the whole thing, so I thought 9 other people could have the closer ones (mine was the only space left in the last row). I worked on my patience(which could be a lot better) and thought about the people's days that might be made all that much better.

It felt good knowing that other students would be happy to get a close spot and not have to walk as far. I mean, I have no trouble walking. I have long legs, plenty of layers on to keep warm, (I don't even get cold super easily) my skin doesn't instantly dry out like some people's can, so why can't I assume that someone else needs those other spots more than I do? Well I can, because I love people! And I will keep assuming that people will gain something from such an act! I was patient and felt pleasure(the joyous kind) in a parking lot! :]

Would you park a couple spaces further from your grocery store so that someone else can have a shorter walk? Or do you think helping people in this way is a bit extreme?

And a couple unrelated, humorous parking/parking lot vidoes from YouTube: An actual story: Andrew's Parking Rage + BBC Coverage of the Rage Malcolm in the Middle clip: You Don't Have To Take That Tone

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