It was 1936. My grandmother sat on the front steps of my mother’s home in East Grand Forks, Minnesota. Most times of the year, they lived a hundred yards from the Red River of the North. Every year during the spring, before the dikes were built, they lived as an island in the Red as the river rose surrounding their house and filling their basement. But there was no water anywhere near the front steps that day as Grandma just sat and cried. It was July. There was no garden harvest yet. The canned goods down on the basement shelves was running low. The small paycheck my grandfather tried to bring home each week was gone.

There was nothing.

And Grandma sat on the front steps surrounded by dust weeping.

But that’s not the end of the story. I always marveled when she would tell this small piece of living history because she told it rarely, and she told it carefully.

As she sat there with her head in her hands, a small
breeze blew down the street. Out of the corner of her eye, Grandma detected motion. Looking over, half buried in the dust, was a $5 bill. The breeze caused it to wave at her.

As it caught her eye, it also caught her heart. $5 was a huge amount of money in East Grand Forks, Minnesota in those days. Grandma always believed that God somehow always provides.

Joy. Gratitude. Abundance.

These are the words I call us to in our church, in our families, and in our communities. These are not easy times, especially for those who have lost their income and their independence. But these are not times of scarcity.

There is JOY in the midst of our days if we will only realize it.

There is GRATITUDE in the midst of our difficulties if we will only exercise it.

There is ABUNDANCE in the midst of our shortages if we will only recognize and then claim it.

Joy. Gratitude. Abundance.

But these are gifts that are not just given to us.

They are also gifts that we give to others. How is it today that you are seeing others in your daily living who are short on joy, stingy with gratitude, and short on an abundance mentality? It won’t cost you a thing to share with them.

In July 1936, Grandma had to lift her head and see what the wind was moving right next to her. Today it is time to lift our heads and see what God’s Spirit is moving in our lives.