Generosity

Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore wrote, “All that is not given is lost.”

Nothing speaks to others more loudly or serves them better than generosity from a leader. True generosity isn’t an occasional event. It  comes  from the heart and permeates every aspect of a leader’s life, touching his time, money, talents, and possessions. Effective leaders, the kind that people want to follow, don’t gather things just for themselves; they do it in order to give to others. .Cultivate the quality of generosity in your life.

Give something away. Find out what kind of hold your possessions have on you. Take something you truly value, think of someone you care about who could benefit, and give it to the person. Genuine charity does not evaluate an action by its bigness or smallness. It evaluates it as an act of love, an act that makes us discover the greatest good: God Himself!

Put your money to work. If you know someone with the vision to do something really great- something that will positively impact the lives of others-provide resources for the person to accomplish it. Give generously and you will receive much from your giving. Give a smile to everyone you meet and you’ll receive smiles. Give kind word and you will receive kind words. Give appreciation and you will be appreciated. Give time for a worthy cause and you will be richly rewarded. Give hope and you will be made hopeful. Give happiness and you will be happy. Give encouragement and you will be encouraged. Give prayers and you will receive blessings.

When an earthquake happened in China, a farmer was standing on a hilltop surrounded by his rice fields. Suddenly he saw the ocean rush away from the shore like some large animal crouching for a leap. He saw his neighbours working in the low rice fields, and when that tidal wave came back, they would be swept away by its force. Somehow he had to call them to the safety of his hill. So without thinking twice, he set fire to his straw stack furiously rang the temple bell. His farmer neighbours thought his farm was on fire and rushed up the hill to help him. They had  hardly   reached the top, when they heard and saw the swirling wall of water swish through the field they had just left. Then it was that they realized how the farmer had saved their lives. From that day on, they went to the temple to pray for their neighbour to whose generosity they owed their lives.

God in his generosity really loves us, cares for us, heals us and watches over us.

Sr (Dr) Lilly Thockanattu SJL