Gordon MacDonald Generosity

A few years ago I read a good book, A Resilient Life by Gordon MacDonald. He has some really great thoughts. The book is written in short, thought provoking chapters that have helped me reflect on my life in a refreshing way. This morning I read the chapter entitled Resilient People Live Generous Lives. He mentions a few things that make a lot of sense about retirement and generosity:

A long time ago I dropped the word retirement out of my vocabulary. I don't believe in it. In the aging process, slowing up in tandem with one's diminishing strength might be a necessity. But retirement suggests, at least to me, a transition from activity to inactivity, from giving to taking. Where in the Scripturess does one find permission to do that? We are called, at all times of our lives to be generous with our time.

Most people think of generosity in terms of the almighty dollar. But generosity is a much larger issur than just money. We are talking about a way of life that begins with this question: What of me can be shared, given away?

I like this and I think it is consistent with what we are learing about the Encore Generation, that it represents a huge wave of people that may want to slow down a bit in the pace of life they are living, but who don't want to stop investing their lives in others to make a difference in the kingdom.

MacDonald continues on in this chapter to calls us to ask ourselves the following:

• What can I give out of what I can do?
• What can I give through what I am?
• What can I give through what I have?

Giving has as much to do about how we use our time, our relationships, our giftedness, and our experience as it does with our financial resources. It is a shame that many still chose retirement and the accompanying cesation of work at the very time when they could be preparing their encore by wisely investing the rest of their lives in the active generosity for the sake of others and the growth of the kingdom.