Generosity

I really want to be more generous. I kinda hope I always want to be more generous, even while I continue to grow in my generosity.

For these six months while living in Chicago before getting married, I'm living with a pretty amazing family. You see, I have my own room in the basement and they don't let me pay rent. I've tried and been turned down on a few occasions. They always invite me to join them for dinner, tell me what's in the fridge, and are hosts to friends coming in and out on weekends.

There are four kids in the family I live with, two of whom are adopted. At the end of the summer, I wanted to give them a little something. So I wrote a little card and wrote a little check. Nothing much, just a little thank you. Then I went to work. When I came home from work, I found a card on my bed:

"Stephen, we can only say how much you being here this summer has blessed our family. Like the girls said, 'I wish he could stay forever!' You always have a place here. And like I told you when you came--you owe us nothing. We can only pray that someone will be generous with one of our kids someday...Thanks for blessing us by living here."

I was blown away. What amazing love and giving. This summer I've been working my way through Brian McLaren's "A New Kind of Christian." In the last chapter I read, he was talking about generosity. He believes that "if the new kind of Christian we [have] been dreaming about wasn't radically generous, it [is] a waste of time...If we can't discipline ourselves to learn the joys of generous living, I think we're an embarrassment to the gostpel" (112). I find myself completely agreeing. I guess I see generosity as an outflow from selfishness, and outflow from love, and we all have heard that they will know we are Christians by our love.

The Wightmans have shown me some pretty amazing love this summer, some pretty amazing generosity. I want that to be a quality I cultivate in my life.