Blog for April 20, 2026
This was quite a roller coaster of a week for us here. The week had started with our dear friend, a sponsee of my husband’s, having his trailers burn down, he had lost just about everything. We offered him shelter, food, clothes, and money, but he ended up staying near where he had been living. He still comes over on a regular basis, and we offer him whatever he may need. I would give more to him, but he is a well-loved person and has clothes and help coming in from everywhere, which is amazing. He is a generous person himself and now, it’s coming back to him in his hour of need.
Two days later, after I took my grandson to his school for State testing, I got a call from my sister-in-law that her son, our nephew had passed away the night before. It was a huge shock to me, I knew he had leg and hip issues but had no idea he was that bad. My husband wasn’t as surprised as I was, he knew Carl wasn’t doing good. Of course, we went right over to my sister-in-law’s house and offered condolences, comfort, love and anything they might need. Her grandkids were with her, as it was their father who had passed away. They all had each other and that was good, as it should be in our hour of need. Being with our loved ones is a huge sign of generosity. God bless them all.
Meanwhile, we still have our sixteen-year-old grandson with us, and I have put him to work around here. Paying him of course, but he is doing the work and has been very helpful. If he wasn’t here, I would be paying someone else, so why not him? I got a little stoved up about what he might be doing with the money. I worry he will follow in his parents ( and my) footsteps, but he says he’s not smoking anything, so I am trying hard to be trusting and generous, giving him the money he earned.
I admit, I was feeling a little stingy about paying him, because I want to put it in a savings account for him, for a car, college or whatever after he graduates and turns eighteen. But he told me about his needs and wants he has right now. I get it, I was sixteen once, and mostly, any money I got went to partying, drugs, concerts, hanging out with friends. But the drugs were always a part of the plan. I pray different for him, for better and for a clear head to make better, more thoughtful decisions. I just love him so much. So, my stingy greed is based on fear, transference and love. I am transferring my past life of mistakes onto him and that scares me, I love him too much for that. I pray a lot. I am very generous with my prayers, that’s for sure!
Generosity can come in many forms, the first thing we think of is money, monetary values. But it can also mean time, attention, helping, listening, advice when it’s asked for, love, care, comfort, food, serving, nursing someone sick or hurting. The list goes on and on. Just like with my friend who lost everything this week, what you give – comes back to you ten-fold. Deuteronomy 15:10 “Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart; then you will be blessed.” And Acts 20:35 “There is more happiness in giving than in receiving.” I know both of these things to be true, because certainly they have happened to me. And I’ve also had the reverse happen, as in 2 Corinthians 9:6-7, “whoever sows sparingly will reap sparingly. But whoever sows generously will reap generously.” It goes on to say to decide in your own heart what to give, not reluctantly but out of love, for God and others. Tithing and giving to charities and disaster funds are some examples of being able to give to others, even if you never met them.
Sometimes, the sharing of our experience, strength and hope is a very generous act. Telling other people how to stay alive and live better is not only a gift of extraordinary measures, but it is also an amazing act of love. Of course, we are only telling how we did it, and hope they will hear something they can use and be encouraged to stay clean and find a way to recover, and gain back what they lost, themselves.
I once had a book in one of my drug and alcohol counseling classes called, “loosening the grip”. Which makes me think of the open hand, the open hand is symbolic of letting go and not holding on so tightly to our negative thoughts, addictive ways or painful ideas. It also symbolizes giving. When I’m tightly fisted, I am holding onto my money, my stuff, my time and thoughts. I am not in a very giving mood. I realized at some point in my recovery that I had been very tightly fisted with all those things, slowly but surely, I started loosening my grip and became more open-handed, more often and that feels much better.
Question of the Week: Are you feeling generous these days?
