Most of us want to make the world a better place. We want to help relieve the suffering we see around us but we get stuck on one big question.
How?
We get overwhelmed by the size of the problem and the ability to provide any kind of solution feels completely out of our hands. The beauty of generosity is that it can be as diverse as the people who extend it.
You can start by asking yourself, what resources or assets you have at your disposal. It may be time, energy, money, talent or skill, or even just passion.
You may find that you have much of one or two, some of several and almost none of one. That’s OK. The point is to figure out what assets you have, but even knowing what you don’t have is helpful.
Perhaps you don’t have any extra money. But you do have some time. You may not have the budget to give to something like the Backpack Buddies program our local church sponsors. But you can assist the team in filling the backpacks each week because you have that time slot open in your calendar.
You may be short on time, but you can spend the money to support a local charity on a monthly basis. You may have skill in a particular area that you can volunteer to an organization or teach to an individual.
It doesn’t have to be complicated or difficult or even formal. Sometimes skill isn’t required just willingness. Can you play with the babies in the church nursery, stuff envelopes for a local non-profit or pick up litter at a local park? All of those things meet a need and none of them require a particular skill.
Obviously if you have skills, make use of them. But don’t necessarily limit yourself to areas where you have a particular gifting, focus on areas where you see a particular need or have a particular passion.
The first year I became a writing teacher it was because there was a need. It was our first year at our homeschool co-op and I wanted to contribute in some way. I saw they needed a writing teacher. I had been a writing tutor and I love to write so I thought it was a good choice. I didn’t know if I’d be particularly good at teaching writing to teenagers, and teaching itself wasn’t something I was particularly passionate about it. But the combination of a need and a personal passion for the subject matter has led to four years of teaching this class, and learning nearly as much myself.
How do I be more generous is a vague question. Try to think of it as personally as possible. How to I be more generous? What needs do I see, what assets do I have and where do those two intersect? That is where you will find your how.
Next – Stop the Car and Open the Door: Grabbing Moments for Spontaneous Generosity
It doesn’t have to be complicated at all. I love the Backpack Buddies program.