If you give freely, there will always be more. . . . You are going to have to give and give and give, or there’s no reason for you to be writing. You have to give from the deepest part of yourself, and you are going to have to go on giving, and the giving is going to have to be its own reward. There is no cosmic importance to your getting something published, but there is in learning to be a giver. – Anne Lamott, writer.
I’ll give any author a chance. I only ‘follow’ a few. Lamott is one such.
“I’m not a writer.” Perhaps not, but you’re a giver. If you weren’t, you wouldn’t be reading this. Non-givers tend toward navel-gazing. They’re self-interested and untrusting. Their rudimentary stinginess is a yeast that spreads into every life area, making them miserable and generally unteachable. And they are carriers.
#20 of our 28 Ways To Absolutely NAIL “Tremendous” says to not be like that.
Instead, here’s what Jesus had to say about it. Listen to how Dr. Luke wrote it down: “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (6:38).
“All right. And The Message says it how . . . ?”
I love it when you’ve been with me long enough to anticipate where we’re going. You understand: my desire is not to toss verbiage your way. It’s to help you and I both to better grasp the truth being revealed.
Here ’tis.
“Give away your life; you’ll find life given back, but not merely given back–given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity” (Luke 6:38, The Message)
“Okay, you’re not saying people who don’t have much in this life are automatically stingy, right?”
Right. I know a lot of fine, openly-giving and genuinely-generous people who possess little of the world’s goods who’ll willingly share them all. So do you.
I also know miserly, niggardly, close-fisted, cheeseparing, tight, parsimonious individuals whose many worldly goods possess them who’ll never think of sharing with anyone.
Guess which of the two receive the promised bonus and blessing?
Let’s revisit what Lamott said, this time removing her references to writing.
“If you give freely, there will always be more. . . . You are going to have to give and give and give, or there’s no reason for you to be doing what you’re doing. You have to give from the deepest part of yourself, and you are going to have to go on giving, and the giving is going to have to be its own reward. There is no cosmic importance to your getting something accomplished, but there is in learning to be a giver.”
If you make it your lifestyle to always be giving more with God’s wisdom and discernment, you’ll find an uninterrupted flow of God’s stuff being poured into and through your life to others. Whether in this life you have A BUNCH or just enough, the basic truth remains:
GOD’S SUPPLY NEVER RUNS OUT. As you remain focused on being an open-hearted and open-handed giver, He’ll always see that your own needs are met.
“I’m glad you added the part about wisdom and discernment.”
Of course. There are predatory, habitual users who seem to prey on those who pray, thinking them an easy mark. Such persons don’t particularly want to change. They are adroit at telling you what you want to hear to get what they want to get. After all, most of our so-called reasoning consists in finding arguments for going on believing as we already do. Professional mooches don’t just change without something jarringly traumatic happening that forces such change. Leave them in God’s hands; don’t be like them and don’t hang with them.
It’s easy to spend paragraphs jawing about the negatives attached to such people. Neither you nor I are interested in that depressing approach. Let me encourage you in all the good, positive, right ways with a parting quotation:
All you need to know is that the future is wide open and you are about to create it by what you do. (Pema Chodron)
One way to help make that happen on your way to absolutely NAILING “Tremendous” is . . .
Find ways to GIVE MORE. ALWAYS.
And above all, give you.
© d. dean boone, august 2015