Gifts on the Journey

A story tells of a ragged beggar who spots the king’s carriage approaching. “Oh, if he would only give me a gold sovereign so I could be rich!” he thought. Wonder of wonders, the carriage stops. In eager anticipation, the beggar reaches out his hand. To his surprise, the king asks, “What do you have for me?” The beggar fingers in his bag for the smallest grain of rice. The king receives it with thanks and drives on. The beggar crumples, confounded. Later he opens his bag for a scant meal. Among the grains is a small, sparkly, rice-shaped diamond. The beggar thinks, “Would I had given him the largest!” The original moral is: Be generous. We may ask: What king gives back what is more infinitely valuable than anything we might give him? Or, why does my King want anything from me; He has everything already? Yet, He does ask. We are called to share our gifts, knowing that God gives more generously than we ever could, even giving His own Son to die for us.