The more we can do without, the
simpler our lives, and the less stress we’ll feel due to threats of overload
and temptations toward self-sufficiency. It’s pretty simple, really. Generosity
is a good choice for everyone.
***
Everyday choices, there’s
always a way,
Choosing for kindness—its genesis
holds sway,
Actions take us beyond
matters of doubt,
Better to give away what we can do
without.
One generous act,
A heart bent on glee,
Positive they’ll react,
Blessings for all to be.
***
Just how much better would our
world be if there was a generous streak in every living human being? It’s
perhaps a moot point. But there are enough of those who care, reading this, to
make some practical difference to the world we live in and share. Indeed, it’s
already happening to some real extent.
Generosity Meets Real Needs
To read that there are one billion
people desperately underfed, in a world where there is ample food resource to
go around, we know that the generous action-oriented spirit—as exemplified in
Third World mission and aid agencies, and many social justice advocates—is still
relatively scarce.
Yet, we know how much we are blessed.
We probably have very much more
than we already need. What can we give away that will make our lives simpler,
more purpose driven, more relevant, and, more importantly, more loving in the
eyes of the needy—and in the eyes of God?
This is nothing about feeling
guilty for not doing enough. It’s everything about asking what we can do, and
doing it.
It’s interesting to note that
poverty experts are saying that it is possible, for the first time in the
history of the world, to actually make poverty history, now and in the coming
years and decades.
Generosity In General
But generosity doesn’t finish
there. It’s not just about giving material possessions and money away.
Generosity is the kindness of a heart, sensing in love, all the discernible
need in a given situation, and doing something tangible about it.
Generosity is a smile. It’s the
method of sacrifice; giving from one to another without thought of return. It’s
the little thing done now, not the big thing planned for later on. Generosity
cringes at thought of adulation—it wants none of it.
Realistically, generosity is the
Christ-call, a spiritual burden on hearts for righteousness to come, and a song
of empathy to the marginalised and oppressed.
The virtue of love is known by
what is done.
Certainly one of the greatest
blessings a pitiable heart can feel is the wash of gladness for all the things
it has, as well as bristling sadness for the many millions worse off.
© 2012 S. J. Wickham.
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