Pure Generosity

Bright and early this morning I heard Josiah's feet hit the floor. He came straight across the hall into our room and hopped on the bed. Mom, he said, I want to send a package to Caleb today. Josiah wanted to go to the store to buy a LEGO set for his cousin and then send it by mail...the whole 5 minutes to Caleb's house from our house.

I had plans for the morning. We needed to get school almost finished so that we could go to LEGO time at the library this afternoon.

I kindly told Josiah that we weren't going to the store this morning. I wish I could buy every LEGO set Josiah wants to give, but, unfortunately, I can't. He let it go and I thought it was a closed issue. On to school!

An hour or so later, Josiah came to me with his John Deere tractor. THIS is what I want to send to Caleb he tells me. I saw the sincerity in Josiah's actions and I got on board. We hunted down just the right box. Then he needed to choose something for Gideon. And then he wanted something for Meghan too. I had some shower gel stashed away and Josiah thought that was a good idea for Meghan. He wanted to pack everything with candy and thought maybe we should go to the store to buy candy. Luckily I had a bag of M&Ms on hand and that was acceptable.

Then it was time to pack. Josiah wanted packing peanuts and bubble wrap. I offered Walmart bags and he decided to wad paper in balls with he carefully placed around the truck and tractor.

Thankfully I found some shredded paper packaging that could substitute for bubble wrap. And, oh yeah, Mom we need to put cookies in! A bag of chocolate chip cookies was added.

He added a note which I wrote just as he dictated and he signed his name. Man, I was feeling loved just helping him get this ready! After putting on the lid, Josiah carefully carried the box to the car and put it in the trunk....just so....so that it wouldn't get disturbed during travel.

I sold Josiah on a person special delivery. After some Mommy behind the scenes work to make sure his surprise wouldn't be ruined...we drove over to Caleb's house. Josiah, just as carefully as before, lifted the box out of the trunk and carried it up to the house.

He pushed the doorbell and then ran back to the car! Mission accomplished!

Josiah was so excited on the way home. It was the most precious, innocent, pure display of generosity and love.

Over an hour later than I had planned we got to work on schoolwork. But, you know what, who cares! Nothing was more important than making a special delivery today. It was worth every second. The truth is, I got excited about our delivery too. Josiah's enthusiasm was contagious. It truly is better to give than to receive.

I heard that a couple little boys were very surprised when they lifted the lid of that box! I wish I could have seen their faces.