Generosity

Can one be too generous? No seriously. I would define being generous as freely giving, no strings attached. Webster's says, "liberality in spirit or act; especially liberality in giving." Can you over do that? I am learning to choose to be generous not adequate, but abundant. And I think that perhaps when we are generous we are most closely walking in our Father's footsteps.Think about how good it feels to give. Research has even proven that there are measurable benefits to our quality of life when we give. The Bible describes God as a generous giver and says(paraphrasing one of my favorite verses James 1:17) that every good and perfect gift comes from the Father above.

I have two types of people that I can easily give generously to. It's easy to give to complete strangers. I don't know them, they don't know me. No expectations, no strings, and no disappointments. Just the joy of giving and knowing that I planted an unexpected blessing in someone's life. Here I can feel a little bit like one of God's secret agents...dropping undeserved, unmerited favor into an unknown person's life. Never knowing the rest of the story but not needing to, because the very act was fulfilling in and of itself.

I can also give generously to the ones I know the best and love the most. It's easy to give here, and usually I want to give much more than I can give. Time,distance, money, these things can constrain me. But the giving--that's easy. It pours out of me, like a spring bubbling up out of the ground.

Christmas brings an interesting twist to this idea. Being generous at Christmas is not the same as giving an abundance of things. Nor is it tied to the dollar amount of things. Generosity is linked to the spirit I think. Being generous and being joyfulful go hand in hand to me. The angels sang "Joy to the World" when the Father and the Spirit gave the Son to the world..the most generous act mankind has ever known.

The world knows that generosity and joy go hand in hand. Look at Santa, a generous gift giver who goes around saying, "Ho, ho ho." Sometimes we Christians miss the mark. We get so caught up in trying to make sure that everyone knows that"Jesus is the reason for the season" that we quench the Spirit. I want to give lavishly and joyfully. I want to demonstrate to the world the vast goodness of our generous God.