A man and a basket of flowers

Armenia is a land of monuments! There are monuments everywhere!
There are so many monuments that sometimes, city officials don’t know where to put them! Take for example this monument sitting on the inside of cement slabs separating a construction site in town from a busy street. The problem is, a monument by design, is for all to see, but at the present, no one can see this one! It has been tucked away amid “human progress.” Yet despite its present humble placement, this is a monument of one of Armenia’s heroes.
This monument was created in honor of a poor man who sold flowers for a living. As the story goes, this man, who desperately needed to sell flowers for income, had such love for people, that he often gave his flowers away as gifts instead of selling them. So this monument represents a spirit and an attitude that is not often seen; the spirit of giving.

But do you see it?? A POOR MAN GAVE… and GAVE… and GAVE… When do we ever equate poverty and giving? Its one of the first things society seeks to strip away from the less fortunate. After all, giving is only the privilege of those who have abundance or so we’re taught.

It must be argued that this Armenian Hero, though not materially rich, nonetheless gave out of his abundance - for one cannot give unless he has something to give.

If its true that a poor man gave, we can’t escape from a fundamental truth. Since a poor man gave, do any of us have an excuse to live without a spirit of generosity? Do any of us have an excuse not to “live to give”? Is there any excuse for our stinginess? For our guarded ways? Our calculated responses? For our hoarding? For our selfishness?

As believers in Jesus we are so blessed! We are blessed because Jesus gives us a heart that gives. As it says in the Word, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
Because of Jesus, we can all be givers. And it really doesn’t matter what we give. It may be a flower… it might be a cup of cold water… but the heart of the believer is to give. I am challenged by a monument that represents a man who despite great need gave anyway. He had it in his heart to give. You and I must have this heart too.