“One person gives freely, yet gains more; another withholds what is right, only to become poor.”
‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭11‬:‭24‬ ‭CSB‬‬

This verse reminds me of “The Warm Fuzzy Tale” by Claude M. Steiner. If you’ve never read it or heard it, everyone in the tale is born with a bag of things called Warm Fuzzies. When they give a warm fuzzy to another person, that person feels warm and fuzzy. But one day a witch convinces them that their bags will one day be empty. So the people stop giving them away. Needless to say, society takes a dark turn — people feel awful, even get sick, and die.

There is something inside each of us, an instinct perhaps, that makes us afraid of running out. We buy six extra cases of toilet paper during a pandemic or hide our stash of Halloween candy so our siblings can’t find it. It makes us stingy and reluctant to share or help others. In extreme cases, a scarcity mindset can lead to some serious problems like anxiety, hoarding, and impulse buying.

In God’s upside-down kingdom, I am called to have a generosity mindset — to be generous, trusting God to meet my needs. The more generous I am with others, the more generous God promises to be with me.

In the Warm Fuzzy story, the witch was lying. The bags of warm fuzzies were bottomless. Just like God’s resources are infinite. And yet it’s so easy to listen to the devil, and my own instincts, whispering that maybe I’d better save more for me.

Dear God,

Thank you for your promise to meet my needs abundantly when I rely on you and give of myself and my resources freely. I’m sorry for the times when I succumb to fear and hoard what you’ve given me or when I am just really… slow… to give. Guide me toward generosity today.