Pay What You Can

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!! No, this entire post is not all about Christmas. That’s probably a relief for some of you and quite sad for others. But I love it! All of it!  Buying gifts for people makes me excited. I am one of those people who listens to Christmas music in June and the house just isn’t right if I can’t smell a live tree when I walk through the front door. Also, starting on December 1st I wear a different Christmas outfit every single day of December. This is who I am! So when I got the opportunity to work at one of the top rated Christmas light programs in the nation I couldn’t pass it up.

The day after Thanksgiving I hopped on a plane to Seattle, Washington to work the Lights of Christmas at Warm Beach Camp. (It wasn’t warm and there was no beach. We don’t really know why it was called that.) While there, I did LOTS of different things but on opening night I had the privilege of working the ticketing booth. This was cool because it was “pay what you can” night. The camp normally has flat prices for those who come to enjoy the lights, food, and activities; however, on a few other nights throughout the season they disregard their normal prices and allow the people to decide what they can afford and the camp accepts whatever form of payment that may be.

Working the ticketing booth for this night was one of my favorite things I did there! I had several people pay with handfuls of change and even one person who brought a can of soup for payment. No matter what they had I thanked them and told them I was excited they were there. Of course, there were probably some people who paid a dollar just because they could, even if they could afford more; however, there were so many people who were so grateful and appreciative that the camp allowed this night because they would not have been able to afford to come otherwise. There were many people who apologized as they handed me their money as if it wasn’t enough. They couldn’t believe that I was actually happy that they were there and giving me whatever they could. It reminded me of the story in the Bible of the widow’s offering:

 Mark 12:41-44

41 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. 43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”

God knows how much you have and whether it’s a can of soup or more money than you know what to do with, you have what you do because God has given it to you. All that you have, including your possessions, relationships, body, status, and time belongs to God and that’s why He asks you to be willing to give Him everything. This woman in the story gave ALL she had to the Lord. God doesn’t ask everyone to give the exact same thing. Gods asks each of us to give Him what we can. Jesus was happy with the two cents the woman gave because every night is “pay what you can night” with God.

No matter what people gave me, I was excited because I knew they were about to experience something great! In the same way, God is excited when you show up, give Him what you can, and get to experience all that He has for you in Himself, and that’s something worth way more than anything you could ever give.

Just to be clear, God doesn’t always ask for everything. But he does ask us to be willing to give anything. Are you willing to give anything to follow God? Your best? Your last? Whatever you can?

To go on this trip God has asked me to give up many things. Some of these include being able to see my friends and family, the comfort of sleeping in my own bed, having the foods that I love, accessibility to a western toilet, and so many more. Here’s the thing though, I understand that giving up all of this is nothing in comparison to following God’s plan for my life. He has so much more for me than what the world can give me. The World Race is not going to be easy but what God has is better than anything I could ever manage to get on my own. I am giving Him all that I have and he is giving me so much more! Pay what you can but you will never out give God!