If you want the background to this story, please read this.
On of the reasons we chose the hotel we did, was because they had a rooftop pool, not unlike this one. Pretty sweet, huh? Except by “rooftop” they meant the top of the third floor. In case you were curious, the 3rd floor was not the top. Anyway, Allison and I wanted to spend a relaxing afternoon at the pool. Apparently, so did everyone else.
So we are hanging out at the pool, mostly people watching, because, well, they were really interesting. To our right was a woman thanking her 17 year old daughter for not getting to drunk during the festival, while her uncle brought her another drink. To our left was a group of people with some really unfortunate tattoos, some of which looked like they may have been done that weekend, possibly right there by the side of the pool.
Allison was napping in the sun, while I attempted to read in between my watching of the pool party all around us. All of a sudden, this guy walks out onto the pool deck and declares, “I brought you all watermelon.”
And he had. He had a giant watermelon in his hands, found a table, and quickly cut it up. He then proceeded to serve anyone who wanted one a piece of watermelon. As he did this, he would introduce himself to people, hear a little bit of their story and then move on to the next person who wanted some fruit.
It was actually one of the cooler things I have seen in awhile.
Why? Because I would never do that. Not because I am jerk or don’t want anyone to have any, but its just not something I would ever do.
I am not a generous person. And its not something I like about myself. Luckily, my wife is way better at being generous and I am learning from her. But I want to get to the point where I am at a semi-roof top pool and think, “I bet everyone would like some refreshing watermelon.”
I think I miss out on being generous due to my overwhelming selfishness. That sounded a lot deeper in my head. I think about making sure other people have the opportunity to be generous to me, but rarely am I fully prepared to be generous to others.
I have been thinking about the early church a lot. The end of Acts 2 says that the disciples “shared with great joy and generosity.” I think this is one of the reasons I have a deep longing for community, even in the midst of quality relationships. I am not very generous. It would be easy to blame my parents because I am an only child, but come on, that ship sailed a long time ago.
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