By Sierra Kovash
When I write, I write what is on my heart. I have tried to write my Motivation Monday for about five days now, and I have struggled to make it flow. That is why you are reading this after five. It is also difficult to make what is on my heart not sound sound like I am suggesting people give away everything they have. That, or make me sounds like I am a sanctimonious martyr.
(So here goes, again, in hopes that I can make what I want to say make sense. My disclosure is… I am not a sanctimonious martyr, and I don’t want you to give away everything you own.)
Giving….
Well, I grew up Catholic and I am still a practicing one (just not a very good one). Catholicism means a few different things, with one of them being you give every time you go to church, sometimes multiple times. There are the offerings and the charities. Then there is the food drive, then there is the clothing drive, then there is Cindy’s baby shower, then there is Lisa’s wedding shower – the giving never stops. Sometimes it is easy to get a little resentful of all the giving and none of the “physical” getting. As a child I truly did not understand why we were always giving and giving and giving. (I am sure more churches are like this).
It took me until I was much older to understand the meaning of giving. It was at my first job at 14 at “The Sonic” that I started to understand giving. I finally had money, and I finally had the ability to make my own financial decisions. It was that year that my sister started Pre-K. Money was tight that year and I was able to help get things together for our school year that year, and for years that was our tradition. I would take her school shopping, and make sure she had everything she needed for school. It brought me so much pride to be able to gift that to my sister and my family. From that time forward, I started to understand what putting others before myself really meant.
As I got older, I was given more and more opportunities to serve my fellow man and to continue to use my earnings to help people. I was learning that the more you serve and the more you give that the more God/Universe/Fate will take care of you. I have said many times that just like in Matthew, when giving, your left hand should not know what your right hand is doing. So, I am not going to list off everything that I have done. I will, however, tell you the things that I have learned from giving.
Don’t be afraid to give all you can. If your heart, mind, and gut all tell you that it is the right thing to do, I am not going to be the one to stop you.
Don’t be afraid to go the distance. If you are called to travel to do good deeds, follow your heart. If you are called to volunteer, even without your friends and family beside you, why not go? Your heart is calling to you because it is hungry for good deeds. It is hungry to feel the joy of the unconditional love that only selfless acts bring.
If donations bring you joy, donate. If acts of service make you smile, volunteer. If helping people makes you happy, help them. Just don’t stand idly by while the world turns, and waits in anticipation for you to make a difference.
“When you give all you can, give some more,
Till you spend all your time
Till you spend your last dime
Tell me brother, what are you living for?”
-Cody Jinks “Give All You Can”