Yesterday, I wrote on four simple things that can act as an antidote to the discontent caused by the consumer oriented world of choices, choices, and more choices that make us perpetually dissatisfied with what we have. Today, I want to share a fifth, and perhaps the most potent antidote - generosity.

Learn to love to give. This is not the calculating giving that results from complex tax planning and financial strategy. It’s the simple giving of providing a meal or clothing to someone in need, of providing timely financial assistance to someone without thought of whether it can be tax deductible. It’s personal. It’s direct. It’s powerful.

Be alert to the opportunity to give in this way, and especially be in tune with how God might be prompting you to give …directly, personally, and sometimes unexpectedly.

I learned the power of this about twenty years ago when my wife and I were in the midst of an excruciatingly difficult time. We had been disinherited. My business had collapsed. My young daughter was just coming through major medical problems. I had been in a car accident and laid up. We were on the verge of bankruptcy, of even losing our home. And this was only a part of what was going on. It was a dark time to say the least.

We were at church one Sunday, silently in the pews, both just trying to get some solace for the unbelievable agony we were feeling. The hymns helped but the hurt never left. Then out of the corner of my eye, I saw the offering plate coming down our row. I felt a twinge of guilt. I didn’t have a penny in my pocket. But my guilt turned to curiosity and then to amazement at what I saw next.

My dear wife, Patricia, pulled a twenty dollar bill out of her purse. I knew that was the only money we had in hand for that week. I gulped, but I saw that it was her hand of faith that put that twenty bucks into the plate and then pass the plate to me. But before I could pass the plate on, since I had nothing to contribute, she reached in and pulled the bill out of the plate. I didn’t say anything, but wondered what was going on.

A few minutes later the service ended. Without saying anything to me, Patricia got up and walked across the auditorium to a woman that I didn’t recognize. I could see Patricia talking to this woman, and then pressing the money into her hand. The woman gazed down at the money and then tears began to flow down her cheeks as she hugged Patricia.

When Patricia returned to me, I asked her, “What was that all about?”

She said, “As I was putting the money into the offering plate, I sensed God telling me, ‘No. Give it to that woman. She’s the one who really needs it.’ When I gave the money to the woman, she started to cry. She and her husband were out of work. They didn’t even have money for their family to eat today. They had come to church hoping that God would somehow take care of them.”

We left church with our spirits lifted by what had happened. We had witnessed God quietly and humbly, in the midst of the crowded pageantry of a modern worship service, single out a desperately needy family. He let them know that though they felt alone and anonymous that He knew their need. And He gave them hope. Christ has always done that - finding the blind, the lame, the downcast, the needy - those overlooked in the midst of the busy crowds.

We were overjoyed to have played a small part in this drama.

Since that day a portion of what we give as a family is cash that we set aside. It hasn’t always been a lot, but we try to wait on God and to be alert to the opportunities He brings our way. I’m amazed at how our kids respond with alertness and generosity to this sort of giving. It’s gratifying to hear them ask, "Can we give to that person?" rather than "Can you buy us a …?"

There are so many that silently suffer in our midst. This Christmas Season, let’s be overwhelmed with gratitude to God for the abundance that He has given us. (When we are discontent, we never realize the abundance we have.) And out of that gratitude, let’s be alert to these very personal opportunities God places before us to be the hands that extend the gifts of God to someone in need.