Gratitude produces generosity.

I became convinced of this reality last November as I reflected on what the season of Thanksgiving does to people.  I believe Thanksgiving remains one of the least commercialized holidays in our culture and I think it is one of the few moments where we recognize the blessings we have in our lives and step outside of our selfishness and turn our focus to others, if only for a few weeks or months.

God works that way too.  He uses circumstances and unforeseen events to shape us and mold us, resulting in attitude and perspective shifts that change how we look at our lives and the world. Those shifts enable us to direct our eyes of ourselves and onto others.

I started working a second job a month ago, and a seasonal third job nearly two weeks ago.  The last month has been a reshuffling of so many things. Dani and I have shifted our date night from Wednesday to either Monday or Tuesday (depending on my Starbucks schedule).  I have stopped staying up late.  When I come home from Starbucks, I am off to bed because I am beat.  Hitting the gym has become a higher priority because I need the energy and health.  I am saying “No” to more and more evening options because I have limited time with Dani.  The time I get with friends for pre-work coffee or an unexpected lunch have become much more valuable.

As my free time has depleted, and as I have had to pull the reins in on my calendar, my gratitude for little things (like finding a time to catch-up with one of my best friends from college who is in town for a few days) SKYROCKETED!  Where I had taken my regular Friday breakfast with Dani at Copper Star Coffee for granted, that time has grown EXPONENTIALLY in importance, because sometimes it’s the first hour we have been awake with each other in three days.

This new-found gratitude is producing generosity in our hearts. We have more sympathy for our friends who manage jobs, other commitments, and large families.  The increased revenue these jobs are creating are creating more financial discipline because we see the end of credit-card debt coming on the horizon.  We are getting the chance to respond to the needs of friends and love on them, as we walk with them through times of crisis and suffering.

I don’t know where this post finds you, but I pray that you would begin to allow God to open your eyes to the little gifts He sends your way each day.  While I am all about working hard, busting your butt to pursue your dreams, and providing for yourself and your family, I have been reminded (in the midst of going between three jobs) that so much of our lives are meant to be received as gifts from God. When we recognize that God is the giver of good things to His children, I think He hold our lives in our hands loosely and begin to open our eyes to those around us.  We begin to open our eyes to opportunities to be generous, to serve, to love, to bless those we come in contact with…for the sole purpose that we have been blessed to be a blessing.

God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 12 are our marching orders as well.

“I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”