Being generous often times gets attached to financial giving of donations. Someone who develops a reputation of donating money to many causes is described as being generous.
Most of us are not so fortunate to be able to donate money without limits. But does being generous only relate to money and the act of giving money without the expectation of anything in return?
Generous with our attention is probably the least thought of when considering this topic. The smile we choose to either give or not give to someone we are passing by in the hallway. Taking five minutes to listen to someone’s problems or issues unexpectedly when they approach us.
Being generous with our knowledge by exposing people to more information so that they can make better choices. Being generous with our experience by mentoring someone who you see is capable of doing more. Being generous with our presence when asked by someone to be somewhere that they feel is important but you may not. Being generous with our talent by helping our neighborhood or Church group with their project that would help many other people.
The difficulty of generosity lies in the struggle within us. When we need to overcome the hurt of honestly sharing information and experience and then seeing the other person making the same mistakes because they didn’t understand what we were saying.
When others bring publicity to your acts of kindness although they were given in a way where no accolades were necessary. We feel uncomfortable when we are put in the spotlight even though our work is good.
When the demands of others needing our help, experience or talent continue to grow over time. That others come to depend on us for being a part of their lives when that was never our intention.
Being generous with money is easy. You give and it’s over. Being generous with your time, talent, experience, and knowledge isn’t. Your presence, using any of these tools, can make a far greater impact but takes more time to be evident.
We tire easily. Being generous should not be one of the reasons we should stop.