Ask yourself these questions and answer them honestly. What story do your answers tell you about your generosity?
• When have you surprised a friend and yourself by listening intently to her and giving her all the time she needed to tell you about something important—without once interjecting your own story?
• Have you gone to someone with whom you are angry, for what seems to you good reason, and asked them to talk with you about that anger and your hope for reconciliation? Have you gone to someone who is angry with you, for good reason, and asked them to forgive you?
• Have you opened your heart and your home to foster children, adopted children, an elderly parent, or someone else who needed refuge?
• Have you offered to teach your skills to someone who needed to learn them?
We all can do better when it comes to generosity. All we have comes from God, who is generous beyond measure.
Today is the 14th Sunday after Pentecost. This message was adapted from “Act Boldly with Generosity” written by Sue Gamelin that first appeared in the January/February 2006 issue of Lutheran Woman Today (now Gather) magazine.