Edit: I like this story but I think it deserves some context.
I was talking with a friend, and we both agreed that, “Community is hard.” One question that I wanted to ask her but didn’t was, “If you were to tell a story about *why* community was hard, what would that story be?”
Afterwards, I figured that if I was going to pester people for stories, I’d better be able and willing to share a story of my own. Here it is.
If you had the eyes of God, you could look over all the earth, and see peoples of all different sizes and shapes and colors and customs and languages… And as you did, you might notice one people in particular… The People Who Carry Things With Them.
Each member of The People Who Carry Things With Them has on their back a sack. It is what makes them who they are; it is why they can call themselves a person Who Carries Things With Them. Every man, woman and child has one. Old or young, blind or crippled or strong, rich or poor… for each person, one sack.
Each person’s sack carries the things that they value the most out of all the world. It holds their treasure, and it goes with them wherever they go. They guard the sack with their life because it is their identity, and if anyone were to look in the sack, they would know exactly who the bearer was. Some held money, some stored books, some were stuffed with odds and ends and trinkets… every sack was unique.
Along with their sacks, the people had a custom. If there was a person they cared about, or a person they loved, or respected, or admired… They reached into their sack and took something out of it, and they gave it to the other. It was how the people made friends – how they married – how they were intimate among their friends and family.
Sometimes the person receiving would accept the gift. Other times they would reject it or throw it away. And sometimes (but not very often) they would place it in their own sack, to carry as their own treasure.
This was how they lived, and through many years of living this way, they built up customs and traditions which ruled their giving. How much to give. How often. How small a thing for a friendship, how big a thing for a marriage. How to reject a gift without causing too much offense.
There was a certain man among the people who became unhappy. One day he went away by himself and sat down on a rock, looking up at the sky. He said,
“God, if you’re out there… I’m unhappy. I love my wife; I love my children. I want to tell them but…
“…I don’t have anything left to give. My sack is almost empty; there’s only one thing left inside. If I give it away, then it will be completely empty. If that happens, I will be forced to leave my family, my people and my life, because no one can abide someone who is unable to share with them.
“I gave too carelessly, too much to the wrong people… and now I am nothing.”
God, looking down, said,
“If you take the last thing out of your sack, I will fill it for you.”
The man shrugged his shoulders,
“God, what’s the point? I’ll just throw it all away again.”
God said,
“With the kinds of things that you put in the sack, I’m not surprised that you think that way. Whenever you give them away to anyone, they leave you, and your sack grows empty. I won’t fill your sack with worthless things like that. When you give away the things I give to you, you’ll still have them. In fact, your sack will grow even more full.”
The man’s eyes grew wide and he said,
“That’s what I want more than anything else. What kind of things are those?”
When the man finally arrived back at his home, he called his family around him and said,
“I have something I’d like to give you. It’s a gift I received today.”
He reached into his sack and pulled out a book. He opened it and read,
“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. There is no law against such things. “