by Linda Cox



A palindrome is a word, phrase, number, or sentence that reads the same forward and backward. Natan (pronounced na-tahn) is a palindrome. It’s one of the Hebrew words for giving. The fact that it’s a palindrome isn’t coincidence in my book. That’s because there’s a secret buried within the act of giving.


When we give to each other, we receive much more in return from the Lord. Not that we give just to receive something back. We give out of a generous heart filled with God’s love. We reach out to someone in need, someone we care about, someone we might not even know. When we are generous, we find that the joy of giving returns to us as a blessing from the Lord.


A generous man will himself be blessed …

~ Proverbs 22:9


The author of a book I read years ago suggested that a person should make the effort to give something to someone every day—a phone call, a meal, a note, a visit, a prayer. That a generous life makes for a richer, blessed life. And we become a “door” through which God uses us to touch His people.


Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure,

pressed down shaken together and running over,

will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use,

it will be measured to you.

~ Luke 6:38


But no matter what we give, God has given us the greatest gift of all—forgiveness and salvation through His Son’s death and resurrection. That gift of undeserved love should inspire us to freely give of ourselves to help His children, and in the process we can watch the act of giving become a palindrome—God’s palindrome, blessing us forward and backward. Praise be to God!


Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,

who comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort

those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves

have received from God.

~ 2 Corinthians 1:3-4



Linda Cox is a regular contributor to DivineDetour. She recently retired after twenty-five years as a district office secretary for the State of Illinois. Her first loves are studying the Bible and reading, but she occasionally tries her hand at writing. Her work is published in All My Bad Habits I Learned from Grandpa (Thomas Nelson),The One-Year Life Verse Devotional (Tyndale), Life Lessons from Grandparents (Write Integrity), Love Is a Verb (a devotional from Bethany House), and Chicken Soup for the Soul’s I Can’t Believe My Dog Did That. She lives in a small town in the Midwest with the “Bone Mafia,” her two indoor/outdoor mutts.