Roberto Juarez: “Sweet Potatoes at the Table,” 1987, at the Denver Art Museum.
Generous. It is such a wonderful adjective. I can’t locate my dictionary at the moment, but my thesaurus uses related words like open-handed, giving something of value, hospitable, bountiful, unselfish, free-giving. I think about generosity and the times I have received it, and my first response is to take a deep breath and relax. Good memories. My second response is to laugh and celebrate.
In the struggle to flesh out what it means to “love one’s neighbor,” when love tends to be a word superficially overused, generosity surfaces as a unique quality. Generosity is a practical way to give love space to grow. I suspect that generosity is the currency of love.
I know this: God is over-the-top generous with us.
Maybe that’s why the writer of 1 Timothy says that wealthy Christians should be reminded to be generous and share what they have. (1 Tim 6:6) My guess is all human beings are called to be generous, but those who have a lot of possessions need extra reminding. We are susceptible to financial preoccupation, caution and even, oh dear, stinginess. I say “we” because by biblical standards I am wealthy by virtue of being a North American middle class person. There is plenty in the scripture readings for this Sunday to warn me and those like me not to be trapped by money and possessions. Maybe some people respond well to negative warnings, but dire predictions succeed in making me tense. Or they set me to rationalizing them as not relevant to my situation. I tend to close the book…or my ears.
But invite me to be generous? Now that sounds like it could be fun. You’ve got my attention, God. That sounds like there could be a celebration around the corner. One can be generous in a lot of ways; with time, with money, with sharing, with feeding, with gifting, in playing, even by being lavish in a readiness to forgive. There is creativity in generosity.
What do generous people look like? They look joyful. They look outward. They look complete in the midst of their giving away. They look like they are alive. They look like Jesus.
Have you seen any generous people at work recently? Isn’t it amazing to watch? My guess is if we asked God to show us opportunities to be generous, we would be more joyful and content people. What do you think?
Trix's Mix says
Your post reminded me of Theodore Roosevelt’s quote:
‘Do what you can, with what you have, where you are’
And the painting put a smile on my face!
Joseph says
Our Heavenly Father’s letter to us, The Bible…. is full of examples of being generous / HELPING others. Following Jesus’s example as we try to follow in his footsteps.
The Stronger our Relationship with God as an individual, the stronger we become as a Congregation. (Being able to disagree on an interpretation of the WORD OF GOD, yet stay united / FOCUSED on the GOAL of spreading the word, to be there to help those in need.)
Whether we show our generousity as a congregation, or on our own, we can show the Christian Generousity. We may help a neighbor make those basic repairs of their home, shovel a sidewalk, give a ride to work or to the grocery store. It could be those canned goods given to the food pantry, watching a child of an overburdened parent who just needs a little bit on Adult time. So much we can do!
Thanks for a great message, it sure got my wheels spinning.