This seems like a great time of year to be looking at our heart’s desire for generosity. I struggle with this in my own life. I want to be generous! I want to give things and share things, but when the opportunity presents itself I often miss it. Generosity isn’t something that comes easily for me. I think some people are naturally more generous than others. I see that in my own kids’ lives. One child wants to give things away to make someone’s day all the time. The other child could not care less about others and their day. Is that the case? Do they really not care or are they like me and are somehow oblivious to the opportunity?
When I step back and look at why it’s hard for me to be generous, it comes back to the truths I believe. I don’t believe there is enough or could ever be enough. I’m constantly trying to keep what I have in a silly attempt to protect myself. I could run out of time to get what I need to get done. I might not have enough money for what I might need.
I must realize I will never be enough AND Christ in me is always enough. Our God is a God of abundance and freely gives to us. He will give what we need when we need it. My attempt to keep myself safe by storing away things for later is really self-reliance….thinking I can handle this life because I know what I need and when I need it. That leaves no room for me to need God.
I want to share with you this podcast by Michael Hyatt. He talks about two different mindsets – scarcity and abundance. This helped me identify the self-reliant thinking that traps me in a spirit of scarcity. It also gave me some tools to practice living out of the abundance mindset Christ has allowed for me. As I practice more of this thinking, like I mentioned here, my behavior will change and I will miss fewer of those opportunities for generosity. I am also going to start processing this thinking out loud so my kiddo can hear it. As I model and we practice together, maybe my child will begin to miss fewer of those opportunities as well. Will you join me this week?