Humble Award, or, Should I Talk About My Good Deeds?

Rob likes to tell a joke that goes like this: "I won the Humble Award at summer camp but they took it away because I wore it."

So I wondered if people would think it was innappropriate for me to share things we do as a family to help others. We love to help people just for the joy of it. Wouldn't others want to share our joy or try the same idea? But always in the back of my mind is the thought that giving should be a private thing and we aren't supposed to brag about our good deeds. So I hope you won't take away my humble award if I share some stories about ways we found joy and contentment in giving to others. I hope you find some joy in them, too, and perhaps you will pass it on.

One of the things that brings me the most joy and contentment is gardening, especially when I can share the harvest with others. It was fun to put in all the work when I saw how much fun my husband and children had picking beans and corn. It was even more fun to be able to give a basket of vegetables to our friends who just adopted two adorable girls from the Congo. Things are tight for them because of the huge sacrifice they made to give these girls a better life, so their smiles made all the work worthwhile.

Proverbs 11:24-25 ESV     

One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want. Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered.