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What happens to generosity when we are afraid there isn’t enough?

When groceries cost more, housing feels precarious, institutions are struggling, and the future is uncertain, generosity might feel like a luxury. Our instinct may be to pull inward—to protect what we have, conserve our energy, focus on ourselves and the people closest to us.

And sometimes that instinct contains wisdom. We have real limits. We cannot give money we do not have, energy our bodies cannot sustain, or time that simply does not exist. Generosity is not self-abandonment.

But scarcity can also become a way of seeing.

Ernest Holmes wrote, “We believe in the eternal Goodness, the eternal Loving-kindness and the eternal Givingness of Life to All.” What happens when we attempt to live from that truth even when the evidence around us seems to suggest otherwise?

When our personal lives or our collective life enter crisis, faith can become harder to access. We may find ourselves slipping down the slippery slope of doubt. Is Life really trustworthy? Is there enough? Does the Mystery have anything to offer these very real problems in our lives?

Maybe, these are perfect invitations to become even more attentive to the subtle realm: intuition, imagination, prayer, possibility, Spirit, Mystery. The solutions we need are right there as seeds just below the surface of our material reality. The next right step, idea, or image rises to the surface of our minds because we turn to the Mystery..The Greater Reality. 

Practicing generosity is a perfect and sweet way to make that turn towards the Divine Mystery. 

A meal shared. A twenty-dollar bill given or received. An afternoon helping a neighbor. A generous interpretation instead of an assumption. A ride. A prayer. A connection. A skill freely offered or received. An invitation. Receiving someone's help without shame.

Small acts and grand ones become declarations: fear does not get to tell the whole story about reality. Let's let Love write the story.

The Good is still here. Love is still here. Life is still giving itself to Life. And we are part of that Givingness.