Five Minute Friday - Generous

This post contains affiliate links - using affiliate links from HS Coffee Break helps fuel this blog.

One word. Five minutes to write about it. This is the idea behind Five Minute Friday and this is today's free-writing post.

your generous gift

a generous helping

generous with your time

********************

generous - adj. showing a readiness to give more of something, as money or time, than is strictly necessary or expected or larger or more plentiful than is usual or necessary

There's more to being generous than just the item given. It's about the attitude and spirit. When I go to a holiday party where there's a gift exchange and I'm expected to bring a gift, I admit my gift is not usually very generous. It might be the right dollar value, and it might be something nice, but I bought it because I was expected to and I really didn't even want to. On the other hand, when I want to get a gift for someone I care about, I put much more thought into it and do my best to choose something that will express my regard for the person and that I think they will appreciate. I'm happy to do it and motivated by the desire to bless another person in some way.

I think most of us would want to be known as someone who is generous, and we certainly don't want to be known as someone who is stingy or begrudging, but what is it that sets us apart as truly generous? I think it is the motivation and the mindset. We can be generous with our praise and encouragement of others. We can be generous with our time and energy. We can be generous in hospitality and generous in our gifts. And it's not the monetary value of what we give that makes the difference. It's the joy of giving, the desire to bless others, and the humility and selflessness of knowing that what we have is because God has been generous to us.

But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand. ~I Chronicles 29:14

Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. ~II Corinthians 9:10-11

It makes you more willing to be generous, doesn't it? When I remember that my stuff and my time and my talents aren't really mine to begin with, and that God has generously allowed me to be a steward of it all. And that he's given me blessings so that I can share them and bless others.

We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift . . . is giving, then give generously . . . ~Romans 12:6-8

Do all the good you can,

By all the means you can,

In all the ways you can,

In all the places you can,

At all the times you can,

To all the people you can,

As long as ever you can.

~John Wesley, Letters of John Wesley

********************

That's what I consider true generosity: You give your all and yet you always feel as if it costs you nothing. ~Simone de Beauvoir

Lose yourself in generous service and every day can be a most unusual day, a triumphant day, and abundantly rewarding day! ~William Arthur Ward

********************

This post is linked at Five Minute Friday for the word prompt "Generous".

 ©2006-2022 HS Coffee Break. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://kympossibleblog.blogspot.com/ 

 We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.