Many years ago, a friend challenged me to become more intentional about generosity and it completely changed my life. Generosity is life-changing. Over the next 40 days we are going to explore the astounding generosity of God, learn how to unleash the power and goodness of generosity in our own lives, get in touch with the best of our humanity, and discover how to live profoundly meaningful lives.
When we are generous, regardless of how we express that generosity, what we are really saying to people is: “I see you. I hear you. You matter. I am with you. I care.”
So, what is The Generosity Habit? The Generosity Habit is simple: Give something away every day.
Five words that will change your life forever. Give something away every day. It doesn’t need to be money or things. In fact, the philosophy behind the generosity habit rests on this singular truth: You don’t need money or material possessions to live a life of staggering generosity.
Let me say that again: You don’t need money or material possessions to live a life of staggering generosity. Over the next forty days we are going to discover dozens of creative ways to be generous that do not involve money or things.
On the other hand, many of us have too many things, and God might be calling you to give away a material possession every day. So, this may be a chance to declutter your life, your basement, your garage, and your soul at the same time.
But by the time we are done you should be absolutely convinced of one thing: Everyone can live a life of staggering generosity, because it is not dependent on how much money or how many things we have.
You may be wondering why I have chosen to focus on generosity at this time. We live in challenging times. There is so much division and confusion, people are discouraged. I believe that at a time like this the world needs what I call a 100% issue. A 100% issue is something everyone can agree on. Keep in mind we live in an age where there is almost nothing everyone can agree on. But I believe we can all agree that generosity is good, and that if we all became a little more generous the world would be a better place, and amazing things would happen. Generosity is a 100% issue in a divided world.
Now, here is today’s generosity habit.
Express your appreciation. There are 8 billion people on the planet, and I suspect about 7.9 billion go to bed every night starving to be appreciated. It’s a horrible thing to feel unappreciated.
Let’s do something about that today. Tell someone how much you appreciate them.
Every expression of generosity announces boldly, “I see you. I hear you. You matter. I am with you. I care.” Expressing our appreciation is a perfect example.
“Be bold and mighty forces will come to your aid,” was Goethe’s observation. Be bold with your generosity. Don’t just dabble in generosity, live a life of staggering generosity. Astonish people with your generosity.
People are tired and overwhelmed and frustrated, because they are constantly being bombarded with all the negative and hurtful things happening in our world. They are hungry for hope and searching for meaning. Let’s astonish them with the goodness of generosity.
Matthew Kelly
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