Gratitude And Generosity

Thanksgiving is all about gratitude for all our blessings.
So much to be thankful for.
Generosity is the natural companion and complement to gratitude.
Life is indeed a great blessing we should be thankful for.
Unmerited, unexpected, unasked for.
To show real gratitude for the gift of life is to be utterly generous:
to give and not to count the cost,
to fight and not to heed the wounds,
to toil and not to seek for rest,
to labor and not to seek any reward.

Generosity begins not with what I have,
for what I have I can easily lose;
but it begins with what I am inside and who I am,
for it is only myself that I can truly give.
Generosity is measured not by what I give away but by what I keep for myself.
For I can give away from my abundance or even sufficiency.
True generosity happens when even that I can’t afford to give, I give away
and not hold back by keeping some comfort or security for myself.
If I can live with small amounts and simple things,
by reining in my wants and desires,
I will have more that I can share with others.
Generosity springs from poverty of spirit,
which does not mean being poor as having nothing to give
but keeping one’s needs small and simple that I may have more to give.
No one is so poor or so bereft of gifts that he has nothing to give and to share.
Often the things that are really appreciated and sought by others are not material things;
like a smile, a touch, time spent together, company, presence, just being there.
And the more I flex my generosity muscles, the more generous I become.

When Jesus looked up he saw some wealthy people
putting their offerings into the treasury
and he noticed a poor widow putting in two small coins.
He said, “I tell you truly,
this poor widow put in more than all the rest;
for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth,
but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood.”
~ Luke 21:1-4