Mind Boggling - Chapter 4

Mind Boggling

By Njeri Mucheru-Oyatta

Giving for me, is not really a new thing. Even before I started thinking about my life and how to control how it unfolds, I can say that I was not too bad in giving. I have always been humbled by my life when I see those who are less fortunate than I am. I have had my share of difficulties but on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being a trouble-free life, and 10 being a monster life, I would rate my life as a 3.

This is not about money at all. It is about always having enough to eat, a roof over my head, clothes on my back, being safe from abuse, having an education and people to care for me. Those simple things alone are dreams to millions.

My giving in the past was usually motivated by something good happening in my life. At every milestone in my life, I committed myself to giving for a good cause. When I could afford to buy select items in the supermarket like grapes (these are things I never tasted as a child!), I decided that every time I went shopping for groceries in the supermarket, I would gladly tip the person who helps me load the groceries into my car with at least all the coins in my purse and, if am in a generous mood, I would add something extra. Sometimes those coins are so many I almost want to hold back some. It sounds small but you’ve got to wean yourself into this giving thing. If you suddenly decide to be taking 10% of your salary and giving it away, you will find yourself blaming the person you are giving for your financial problems.

I also made another giving commitment when I could afford to pay my own rent in a nice flat, when I got married and when my daughter was born. Giving in gratitude for my blessings has been a winning formula because every time I question my giving, I have a very good reason to justify it. I am certain that if God had asked me whether I would make a weekly donation to an abandoned babies’ home if he were to bless me with my daughter, I would probably have promised a whole lot more.

Other than giving in gratitude, I have found another motivation for giving. I cannot remember a time in my life when I didn’t want anything. When today’s wants are satisfied, tomorrow brings new ones. Life’s goal posts are always shifting. When I didn’t have a car, I wanted one, when I got one, I wanted a better one, and there is always something better out there than what you have!!

There are no guarantees in life. You may make the most carefully thought out plan on how to acquire something but there is always something that could happen to derail your plans. If you are faced with an opportunity to give, stop and remember what it is YOU want to be given. You could be timing a promotion or salary increment or bonus at work, you could be following a big payment by a customer, you could be trying for a baby, you could be unwell, your loved one could be in need of something. Ask yourself whether what you are hoping for is worth what you are being asked to give. It doesn’t matter whether the person or cause for which you are giving is undeserving. As long as what you want to happen in your life is worth what you are being asked to give, go ahead and give in the hope that the powers that be will favour you in the same way. It has been said time and again that when you do good, you do it to yourself. It is in giving that we receive.

When am in need of something, I look for a need somewhere and give in the hope that it will come back to me in the form of satisfying my need. More often than not, it does. It is motivated by self interest but well, that’s the way of the world!