Growth in Generosity

GROWTH IN GENEROSITY

In the fruits of the Spirit six out of the nine are related to our attitudes towards others – love, good temper, kindliness, generosity, fidelity, gentleness. Only three can be said to refer to oneself alone – joy, peace, self-control. Does this mean that there should be twice as much interest in our outside relationships as we have in our own self? Jesus said that we are to love our neighbor “as” ourselves – the self interest and other-interest are to exactly balance.
And Paul said that each of us should have “an eye to the interest of others as well as to his own” – as well as. Here they exactly balance again.

But in this surrendering to the Spirit and letting the Spirit have sway over us, does it turn out that we find ourselves twice as interested in others as ourselves? Is this the second mile attitude of human virtues? And if we do go the second mile, do we become lopsided personalities? One would think so. But strangely enough, No. The more we love others, the more beautiful we become in ourselves. The loving are the living – in themselves!

So Paul turns the many-sided Christian character to the facet of generosity. This leads us to look at a verse from Jesus, previously quoted,

If your eye is generous, the whole of your body will be illumined.
(Matt.6:22, Moffatt)

If your Eve – your outlook on life, your whole way of looking at things and people – is generous, then your whole personality is illumined, is lighted up.

Jesus was generous toward all – the poor, the meek, the sinful, the unlovely. And His whole personality was full of light. And Jesus generates that generosity within us. We begin to see everything and everybody with the generous Eye.

O Jesus, Thy generous Eye saw in me what wasn’t there, and lo, it was there! Help me to thus create what I see. Amen.

AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: My generous Eye will generate generosity in others; if not, I’m more generous for giving unmerited generosity.

Three Nice Stories of Care and Kindness

Dean Wilson says he tries to plant kindness in his mind each day on his long arduos drive to his work from Huntingto0n Beach to West Hollywood. He endeavors to think and act caring all the way. When he succeeds he finds the trip flows smoothly.


When he forgets and slips into anger and aggressive driving, trying to out-maneuver others, he arrives upset, irritated and agitated.
Intending to act kindly and caring soothes his soul and is considerate of others as well.

***

Donna Slade received an unexpected blessing on a frantically busy toll road. When she stopped at the toll booth the man smiled and said have a blessed day.


She said it absolutely lifted her spirits so much that she was delivering care and kindness the rest of the day.

An especially mixed up doctor's office she had to visit the same day totally frustrated her. But she said she managed to say "I know there is irritation in my voice right now but I really appreciate your efforts to work this out." The clerk was flabbergasted. She smiled and clearly felt renewed in energy as she went back to solve the confusion. Plus, said Donna, I felt so good the rest of the day.

***

I had just completed leading the funeral of a dear woman. We were invited by her husband Dave Cook to come to their house after the general refreshment hour, to unwind and talk. Linda and I arrived early so I took some shrimp and a glass of wine and sat down at a large round table off to the side. After sitting there alone a few minutes, maybe five minutes, a young girl suddenly plopped down in an empty chair on the other side of the table. 


She sat facing me so after a couple of seconds I said “what are you doing here, all by yourself?” Her reply really surprised me. She said “I saw you sitting here all by yourself and I thought you might like some company” I was stunned. She was a very young girl in her early teens. A few minutes later she told me she was 14. 


For the next little while I did little more than praise her and express admiration for what she had done. Then we got acquainted and spent some pleasant time chatting. But before we parted I made sure she, and others now gathered nearby, knew what an outstanding and unusual act of loving-kindness that young lady had given.

A Special Act of Care and Kindness ---- No. 1

The ATM at the Chase Bank cannot be approached without walking past the Handicapped Parking Area. After parking my car I walked in that direction and noticed a woman getting out of her car, and I realized she would be able to reach the ATM line before I would.

She was about ten yards ahead of me when I passed the rear of her car. I noticed on the back window the name Miguel. Under the name were numerals. One set read 1992 then the dash and the other set of numbers, 2008. (1992-2008). Her son Miguel, I reasoned, had died at age 16.

And then I was standing next to her as we waited our turn. "You have had a very sad loss," I said. She looked at me not sure of what I said. "Your son died. That is so sad," I repeated. Then she understood. "Yes, one year ago." And I saw tears pooling in her eyes. "There is nothing more heartbreaking," I said. "Oh it is terrible," she replied, and then she had to move to the ATM.

Our grief session was over, and it was my turn to move to the machine. As I clicked in my numbers I heard her say "good-bye" as she moved back to her car. I took it as a clue that I had touched her heart in a good way. In 60 seconds her heart had been touched, and mine had been blessed.

To say that God is Love....

"To say that God is Love....
is to affirm God as the Cosmic Lover and to see love as the force directing God's ever-continuing work of creation, redemption and sanctification. Love is the supreme attribute of God, above all other attributes and subordinating them all. Christians are to make Christ-like love the definition of God and the motivation in all God's work...."
from God is Love by Bishop K.H. Ting, of China

Also this. "...it seems to me that to confess that Christ is Godlike is not half as important as to affirm that God is Christ-like and that Christ-like love is the way God runs the cosmos."

Is it Kind?

‘IS IT KIND?”

Third, Remember that no other things done can atone for a lack of kindness. Many people excuse themselves for a lack of kindness by pointing to the things they do for someone – “I am working my fingers to the bone for him.” Yes, but the fleshless fingers will not atone for unkind words and attitudes.

Even ministers who work hard but lack this essential kindness are no exception. Paul says: “I prove myself at all points a true minister of God,” and in the twenty-eight things he names, he puts as the fourteenth “kindness” (II Cor.6:4-10, Moffatt). At the very center of all his proofs was “kindness.” If at the center of all our proofs of our being true ministers and workers for God is not kindness, then all the rest is sounding brass and tinkling cymbal.

A prominent man, very ardent and very able and in every way outstanding, was divorced by his wife on the simple statement: “He crushed my personality.” There was an apparently central unkindness. And nothing else could atone for that.

Fourth, Beware of the attitude of criticism which will dry up the springs of kindness. If you take the attitude of criticism, it will put you on the defensive, and you’ll have to set yourself against kindness to justify your criticism. In an atmosphere of criticism, kindness withers and dies. So kill the criticism before it kills the kindness.

In our Ashrams we have this motto among others: “When about to criticize another, ask:
Is it true? Is it redemptive? Is it necessary? Is it kind? If the criticism doesn’t pass the test of kindness, it is unjustifiable.

There are those who feel they are called of God to criticize people into goodness. The Pharisees sincerely tried this and ended in producing not goodness in others, but Pharisaism in themselves. Setting yourself up in judgment produces not the very good Christian, but the very good Pharisee. And the very good Pharisee is an ugly character. Jesus made the very good Pharisee forever unrespectable.

Dear Lord, as I know my own faults, help me to be kindly toward the faults of others. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: I can never criticize another into goodness, for I make myself bad in the process.