Generosity Beyond the Obvious

What’s the smallest, most trivial thing you could do to shine light into someone else’s life?

So many times we focus on the big things, the obvious things. When helping others is mentioned the first thing that comes to mind is writing a check and sending it in the mail or dropping a few dollars into a collection plate. What I’m coming to realize is that generosity is bigger than the collection plate; it’s bigger than the obvious things. Generosity has to do with your heart much, much more than it does with your actions.

“When you help someone out, don’t think about how it looks. Just do it—quietly and unobtrusively. That is the way your God, who conceived you in love, working behind the scenes, helps you out.” (Matthew 6:3-4, The Message)

It’s really the small things that count. If the only good you ever did were the things you had to think about, would you really be generous? Could you consider yourself a generous person if you only helped and served when you thought about it or were called out to do so? We sometimes focus so much on the big things; the things that we think can change the world, to the detriment of generosity. We can either get caught in the mindset that nothing we do is of any importance unless it is obvious or we can become cynical. We can get tired of trying to make such huge changes and failing that we give up on the whole thing altogether.

Maybe we ask, too often, how can I change the world? How can I leave a legacy? Maybe a better question is what is the smallest thing I can do? What can I do to shine light into someone else’s life and make their day easier? Maybe in time, if we ask this question of ourselves, the small things won’t seem so small and the big things won’t seem so far away. Maybe in time we might even be able to call ourselves generous. I want to live a life of generosity beyond the obvious.