Sharing

I love recycling.  To use something once and then throw it out physically hurts me.  I especially love when things get circulated between people.  My dad bought me a low-end Mac during my freshman year in college, and I squeezed the life out of it for four years and then one more year out of college, before passing it down to my sister for her freshman year in college, and then she had it for another five years.  I have been the owner and borrower of clothes, bikes, and tools, and every single time something gets transacted, I'm loving how we didn't have to throw something away, let it idle, or have to buy one for ourselves.

 

So while you'll never catch me living in a commune, I do like when communities share.  Which is why this morning was so cool.  Before I left with my wife and daughter for the morning service, I dropped off some hand-me-down clothes that one family had given us to pick through, and then dropped off to another family a turkey I'd earned through my grocery store that I wasn't planning on using for Thanksgiving.  Both times, though my interactions with these families were brief, as I was making the drop I was thinking about how nice it is to share, and how nice it is to be in a church family that shares.  We are so much richer when we do this kind of thing.