Infectious Generosity

True story: every now and then, I get in this crazy mood. I have the desire to buy things for people, make things for people, leave people love notes, go on and on for days on end about how much I appreciate people... you know, I turn into "Crazy Mushy Danielle". The past few days is one of those times.

So, today I got to thinking. What incites these "generosity sprees" in my life? What compels me to constantly want to buy people small gifts (as small as a coffee, a piece of chocolate, or a cinnamon crunch bagel from Panera - it's my roomie's favorite), tell people how much I love and appreciate them, or leave encouraging notes on people's doors? Well, I don't necessarily think that the cause of it is always the same exact thing, but I have reached a conclusion as to how my most recent/current state of mushiness has come to be... in this case, it is pretty obvious to me how I got here.

Infectious generosity.

What on earth is infectious generosity? (It just popped into my head, so I ran with it.) I suppose the idea of infectious generosity is kind of the same idea as an infectious smile. You know that feeling - when someone smiles at you and it fills you with so much joy that you can't help smiling at someone else because of the happiness you received from the first smile? Infectious giving kinda feels like that, just on a grander scale.

Let's have an example, shall we? This week, I have felt encouraged, valued, appreciated, served, and truly considered by so many of my friends here at Liberty. It has come in the form of friends being hospitable during a visit to their homes (That's right... men of God serving other people in their own homes, and I was lucky enough to experience it twice in one week... but that's a blog for a different day.), encouraging words, small gifts, notes, posts to my Facebook wall or comments in my email - and that's not even the end of it! The list seems never ending this week. Out of the overflow of being poured into so much by others this week, I have wanted to make other people feel that way, too. Just like when people keep smiling at you and you feel compelled to smile back - people have been so generous to me, and I can't help but want to be generous to others in return. So now, this is my week - full of love notes, encouraging words, and little gifts. Out of the generosity of others toward me, all I want is to be generous to others. Infectious generosity has grabbed a hold of me this week in a big way, and it's not letting me go.

Could I sit here and make this into a lesson about generosity? Of course I could, but I'm not going to (okay, I might... you never know). Sometimes, when you have a good experience with something, you just want to tell someone. That's kind of what this is. This is me sharing the goodness of God in my life manifested in the relationships I have with people on this campus. This week has really been a reminder to me of how good God has been to me in the friendships he has allowed me to form with some of the most amazing people I could ever hope to have the privilege of calling "friend". They are generous to me with their resources, words, and time, and I feel encouraged to be generous out of the overflow of their generosity toward me.

Okay, I said I might make this thing into a lesson. It's really more of a parting thought. Someone has to be the first person to smile for it to be infectious. If one person doesn't smile first, the chain can't start. In the same way, someone has to be the first to be generous for generosity to be infectious. Be generous and see how much YOU will feel blessed by it just as much as the person you have shared with.

Smile first. Be generous first. Be blessed. <3

Are You Afraid of the Dark?

Today was a rough day in the best way possible. Have you ever had a day where there Lord stirs your heart and challenges you and you feel like you are forever changed? Yeah, that's what my day looked like today. I managed to make it through without being an emotional basket case, but only by a slim margin.

This morning at church, we talked about fear. Fear... let's see... what am I afraid of? I'm afraid of snakes. I'm afraid of spiders. I'm afraid that I'll fall down in public and everyone will laugh. I'm afraid of creepy crawly things lurking in the shadows, and I'm afraid nobody will be around to kill them for me. I'm afraid of the forest at night. That's all legitimate, right? That's not the issue, though. At my core, in the depths of my heart - what am I afraid of? Are there relationships I haven't invested in out of fear that someone will be less than careful and cautious with my vulnerable heart? Are there places I haven't gone because I'm afraid of danger and the unknown? Are there words I am not willing to speak to people out of fear that I will be mocked or rejected? What opportunities have I missed because fear won out? What blessings have I cheated someone else out of because I was afraid to get hurt? I cannot afford to live in fear anymore. Lucky for me, there's a way out. Love. Yup... love. 1 John 4:18 is the verse we went through today. "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." You want to fight fear? Love. If true, godly, perfect love drives out fear and we choose to live in that, then where is there room for fear? There isn't. I can hear you now... "But if I choose not to live in fear, the things I'm afraid of really might happen!".  It's true; if you choose not to live in fear, it is totally possible that the things that you feared could happen. You might get your heart broken. You might go somewhere and get physically hurt. You might get mocked for speaking truth into someone's life. At the end of the day, when all is said and done, is the love of God not worth more than those things? Is the love of God not worth every sacrifice you can make? Will God not heal your heart from those pains? Did God not know what He was doing when you were mocked and felt rejected? I know that for me, God's perfect love and choosing to live in it is more important than even my own life. How can I choose to live in fear any longer when there is something so much better waiting for me? Between fear and love, I choose love.