Bountiful Eye

“He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he giveth of his bread to the poor.” (Pr 22:9 AV)

A great definition of a bountiful eye.  When we think of a bountiful eye, we generally think of someone who has amassed wealth.  We usually think of a bountiful eye as a vision of what one can accrue.  Solomon disagrees.  As the wealthiest of all sovereigns at the time, he defines a bountiful eye as the one who shares what he has with others.  Note also that he gives of, and not all of, his bread to the poor.  In other words, the one with a bountiful eye has limits on what he thinks he needs.  He gives from his bread because he knows he doesn’t need all that he has.  He shares with those who have much less and because his eye is bountiful, he is looking for an opportunity to do just that.  The bountiful eye is the eye that sees other’s needs before he sees an opportunity for profit.  The bountiful eye is the eye that knows he has been blessed and he is obligated to share what he has with those who have very little.

When I think of someone with a bountiful eye, I think of my mother and father-in-law.  The times we have gone out to eat and covered our check as well as theirs are very few.  Over thirty-six years of knowing them, it has to be less than a dozen times.  And, their generosity doesn’t stop with us.  I cannot count the times when the extended family met for one reason or another.  Weddings, funerals, family reunions, etc.  When we got together and ordered out, usually it was my in-laws that paid for it.  If we met at a restaurant, it was Larry who pulled out his wallet.  After my son was married, we sat at a Mexican restaurant.  There was my family of five, my son’s new in-laws and their best friend, my wife’s aunts and uncles, and there may have been one or two more.  We took up a room.  When the checks started to come, he took them all.  He paid several hundred dollars that day.  That is Larry.  The most generous person I know.  And, the LORD has blessed them for their generosity.  They are not wealthy by any stretch of the imagination.  Not even close.  They are the typical middle of middle-class people.  Both of them learned to grow up on very little, so when the LORD blessed them, it wasn’t hard to share.  They were used to it.  Being bountiful is their nature.

Tomorrow, we will celebrate the goodness and faithfulness of God.  He has rained nourishment on the just and the unjust.  Showers of blessings are all around us regardless of how full our bank accounts are.  We are, of all people, the most blessed.  Being thankful is not limited to words spoken once a year.  True gratefulness shares what one has with those who have not.  The bountiful eye does not hoard.  It disperses.  The bountiful eye sees there are others who cannot be bountiful and gives of his excess.  May we learn to have a bountiful eye toward those who are less fortunate.  May we seek to be as much of a blessing to those who need it as the LORD has been to us.