Have you ever noticed how astounding the generosity of Nature is?How many pine trees are potentially there in a single pine cone?
How many fields of flowers could spring from the seeds of a mere handful of blossoms?
Islam's sacred book, the Quran (or Koran) is full of wise and inspiring words about the generosity of God and the way human beings should imitate that generosity. For Muslims, generosity is extolled as a way of life, and part of how a just society is established.
As you meditate on these words from the second surah of the Quran, you might want to ponder how you might live more generously, and why.
If you spend your wealth in God's service,
you are like a grain of corn which sprouts seven ears,
each of which bears a hundred grains.
God is abundantly generous to those who are generous.
A kind word of forgiveness is better
than charity given in an insulting way.
Do not mar your generosity,
like those who show off how generous they seem to be.
Such people are like a rock covered with earth.
A heavy shower falls upon it, leaving it bare.
They will gain nothing from their efforts.
But those who are generous with their wealth
from a desire to please God and satisfy their own souls
are like an orchard on a hillside.
If rain falls on the orchard, it yields twice its normal crop....
Those who are generous by day and by night
both in secret and openly
will be rewarded by God.
They have nothing to fear or regret.
Here is my prayer of response to these inspiring words. What might yours be?
Generous and giving God,
my life is so full of your gifts,
I would run out of time to recount them.
Indeed, I live and breathe by Your generosity alone.
May my heart be as generous as Yours.
May I give to others freely and gladly,
as I have received freely and gladly from You.
May an orchard of gratitude grow in my heart.
May the fruit of my life and my gifts bless the lives of many others.
May I be like a fruit tree, bearing gifts for others
in all the weather and seasons of life.
May my giving be as free and unselfconscious as that of the trees and plants that nourish me.
Amen.
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