We are all called to live generous lives, and to grow in the area of generosity is one of the surest ways to grow spiritually. But in order to grow our generosity, we first need to get a sense of where we are today.
How generous are you? Are you dabbling in generosity or are you living a life of staggering generosity? Do you believe the more generous you become in every way, the more your life will improve in every way?
Give yourself a generosity score between one and ten, with one being the meanest, stingiest person you can imagine (think of Scrooge from Dickens’s A Christmas Carol) and ten being the most generous person you have ever known.
This simple exercise helps us to realize where we are on the spectrum of generosity. Perhaps this moment of introspection leads us to the conclusion that we are not as generous as we thought we were. On the other hand, it may bring us to the realization that even though we have been very generous in the past, we have great opportunities to be even more generous in the future. And hopefully throughout this journey together you are discover new and creative ways to be generous.
Now, here is today’s generosity habit.
Support a small business. Go out of your way to buy something from a small business. Small businesses create 67% of new jobs, deliver 43% of gross domestic product, and produce 16 times more patents per employee than large companies. 36% of small business are owned by women, 9% by veterans, and 15% by people of color. 68% of every dollar spent with a small business funnels back to the community. Small businesses are literally the backbone of the economy. What you buy, where you buy, and who you buy from can generously reshape your community and the world.
Matthew Kelly
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