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Generosity: Your Candle Loses Nothing When It Lights Another!

No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave – President Calvin Coolidge

Nothing speaks to others more loudly or serves them better than generosity from a leader. True generosity is not an occasional event. It comes from the heart and permeates every aspect of a leader’s life, touching his time, money, talents, and possessions. Consider these five aspects of generosity.

Be Grateful For Whatever You Have – It is hard to be generous when you are not satisfied with what you have. Generosity rises out of contentment, not by acquiring more. J.D. Rockefeller admitted, I have made millions, but they have brought me no happiness.” If you are not content with a little, you will not be content with a lot. If you are not generous with a little, you will not suddenly change if you inherit wealth.

Put People First – The true measure of a leader is not the number of people who serve him, but the number of people he serves. Generosity requires putting others first. If you can master this, giving becomes much easier.

Don’t Allow The Desire for Possessions to Control You – More and more people it seems are being controlled by the desire to acquire. Author Richard Foster states, Owning things is an obsession in our culture. If we own it, we feel we can control it; and if we can control it, we feel it will give us more pleasure. This idea is an illusion!” If you truly want to be in charge of your heart do not allow possessions to control you.

Regard Money As A Resource – Someone accurately stated that with money you cannot win. If you focus on making it, you are materialistic. If you try to but don’t make any, you are a loser. If you make a lot and keep it you are a spendthrift. If you don’t care about making any, you are unambitious. If you make a lot and still have it when you die, you are a fool for trying to take it with you. E. Stanley Jones states, “Money is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. If it gets on top of you, you become the slave.”

Develop The Habit of Giving – In 1889, millionaire industrialist Andrew Carnegie wrote an essay called, The Gospel of Wealth.” He wrote that the life of a wealthy person should have two periods: a time of acquiring wealth and one of redistributing it. The only way to maintain an attitude of generosity is to make it a habit of your living. Richard Foster wrote that when we let go of our wealth, it does something within – it destroys the greed demon.

The real challenge is to look for ways to add value to other people around us. Are we giving our wealth to something that is bigger than we are? TO whom are we giving our time? Are we pouring our lives into others? It is have been said that you have not lived until you have done something for someone who can never repay you. To start living out and improving our generosity to these three things:

1.Give something away – Take something of value that has a hold of you and then plan to give it to another who would appreciate it more than you. Do it anonymously.

2.Put your money to work – If you know someone with a vision to do something really great, something that will change other people’s lives, provide the resources to help them accomplish this.

3.Find a mentor – Once you reach a certain level of leadership, the most valuable thing that you can give is yourself. Find someone to pour into. Give them the resources and time to become a better leader.

What are you currently losing by holding on?

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Music: “Gratitude Mood” by David Arivett. You can learn more about his music by clicking on his name. THANKS DAVID!

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