Receiving is harder than giving

Drought is being experienced by most of the U.S. as we speak. There's been some relief lately in the form of lower temperatures and some rain, but by the looks of the crops and the feel of the ground, the word "drought" still very much pertains. Up here in Minnesota we have not really experienced the extreme lack of rain. Though we've gone weeks without, our temperatures have not stayed high and we have had some good downpours recently. One such downpour was this past Wednesday morning. I was just finishing a little morning jog when it started coming - what an incredible feeling it was! I was in need of a quick cooling down, so I stretched out on my driveway while the rain was pouring down all over me. Rain certainly is thorough, isn't it? I was covered and was completely washed over. And you know what I had to do in order to have all that done - RECEIVE. Why is it so hard to receive? Whether it's a gift or a favor or a simple kind gesture of someone opening the door for you, receiving can be hard to do. Our natural tendencies, for the most part, are to fend for ourselves and not inconvenience others. The irony of this is that, by maintaining this stance (either practically or just theoretically), we are becoming more and more selfish. We are communicating to others, "I don't need you, it's really all about me." The way we are made is that we need to be able to give of ourselves to others (see Ephesians 2:10 and Mark 10:43,44). In order for all this giving and serving to take place, there must be people who receive all of this goodwill. Just like our midwest fields, this country needs to learn to RECEIVE. Just like the crops and fields cannot try any harder to receive the rain, we must stop "trying harder" to earn our own way or to come up with a better way to live life. The first step to becoming better receivers is to receive the grace gift of eternal life from our Lord Jesus Christ. We need to humble ourselves before our Creator, trust His way to live life (obedience to His Word), and receive is unmerited, unconditional, 100%-from-God-0%-from-us, GRACE. In many ways, receiving IS harder than giving, for we're dependent on His way, trusting His timing, and admitting that we can't do it on our own. It's a great and freeing life, actually, for everything is on Him and my job is simply to trust and obey . . . for there's no other way . . . right? Before we can give with the right heart, we need to be able to receive with a grateful and humble heart.