The “R” in “Generosity” highlights relationships. Healthy relationships weave an interconnecting web of friends, neighbors, family, church members, community folks, and people around the world whom we may never meet but for whom we pray. All of these relationships are gifts God has entrusted to us to enjoy, strengthen and share. While we usually experience them one-to-one, when connected together, we enliven one another and grow, like a magnetic field in space or synapses sparking one another in the brain.

The tough part is that our relationships are so human! Even close friendships have their On and Off times, and we all have that less-than-beautiful side that we cannot hide. (Okay, call us “characters,” but you still know what I mean.) Most of us have some aspect of dysfunction in the families we were born into, and in the family relationships we choose for ourselves. What a proving ground for God’s grace!

When we seek to be generous in our relationships, we try to have Jesus’ quality of caring, his kind of truthfulness, justice and compassion at the center of our interactions. We seek to move beyond possessiveness to “uplifting one another in love.” Such love is an always-moving target, but it’s a goal well worth aiming for.

“Where two or three are gathered in My name,
There I am in the midst of them.”    – Jesus

Your partner in ministry,
Betsy Schwarzentraub

Written 5/1/2013 for Foothills UMC, Rescue, CA