The Importance of Giving

Money is a peculiar thing. It is an inanimate object; it has no emotions, no ambitions, no ulterior motives. It’s just paper, ink and metal. However, the musings over money can evoke a tremendous emotional response in us. And, because it usually involves money, the subject of giving, especially in challenging economic times, can cause us to clutch our wallets a little bit tighter.

Most of us wouldn’t consider ourselves akin to Ebenezer Scrooge. We believe that we’re good people and we want to give but we aren’t sure if it really makes a difference or if we want to take the time or we wonder where the money will come from. Does it really matter whether or not I give…'cause I could really use that money for myself?

Mary Hunt, author of Debt-Proof Living: The Complete Guide to Living Financially Free outlines a few very important, introspective reasons for giving. First, giving proves the condition of my heart. Am I grateful for what I have and willing to share it with those who are in need? Hunt says, “Without gratitude operating in my life, more is never enough, and nothing brings genuine satisfaction…I do not believe that it is possible to feel both greed and gratitude at the same moment.”¹ Second, giving connects me to the world. It is easy in our fast-paced, materialistic society to forget that a whole world exists outside the doors of our minivans. Before we know it we’re spoiled and too self-centered to realize it. Giving focuses our attention outward, away from our issues, and as a result we begin to realize that our stuff is unimportant in comparison to the struggles of most of the world. Thirdly, giving teaches my brain that I have more than enough, ultimately suppressing the twin monsters of fear and greed that so readily vy for control of our purses and our hearts.

Studies at major universities have proven time and again the personal psychological and health benefits of giving back. After 20 years of research on over 3000 men and women, Allan Luks coined the term “Helper’s High” to describe the feeling of euphoria that a person receives when they help someone else. The benefits of the Helper’s High are profound and unmistakable. “His research concluded that regular helpers are 10 times more likely to be in good health than people who don’t volunteer. And that there’s an actual biochemical explanation: volunteering reduces the body’s stress and also releases endorphins, the brain’s natural painkillers.”² People who struggle with depression or chronic illness find greater satisfaction in their lives when helping others by giving of their time and resources. A study conducted by the Washington, D.C.-based Corporation for National & Community Service revealed that individuals with coronary artery disease who participate in volunteer activities after suffering a heart attack report a reduction in despair and depression.³ Giving is good for your heart!

Much like exercise, giving is a purposeful discipline with scientifically-proven, necessary results that improve our lives. In other words, sometimes we don’t like to do it or we believe that we just can’t do it but, regardless, it is vital to our well-being. It is no coincidence that 200 years ago Charles Dickens in the beginning of his classic novel A Christmas Carol depicted Mr. Scrooge as a snarling, hunched over, venomous old man. Even without the science to back it up, a Victorian writer could easily sketch a character rife with the consequences of keeping a tightly closed fist. However, let’s not gloss over the dramatic contrast after Scrooge’s midnight yuletide ride when he realizes the error of his stingy ways and declares, “I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a school-boy. I am as giddy as a drunken man!”⁴ The change was obvious to him and everyone around him. If you've been feeling a little crotchety yourself lately, add a little giving to your life and see if you don't notice a difference.

The mystery of giving is that it gives back…it's an interesting cycle of blessing. Once you take that leap of faith, a strange thing will happen…despite the fact that you gave, you’ll still be able to pay your bills and put food on the table and gas in the car. Giving ensures that you always have enough. If you are sincerely struggling financially right now, find ways to give of your time or donate items around your home that you don’t really need. I have a single friend who, because of struggles with her ex-husband over child support, needs every penny she can get. Despite her dire circumstances, she willingly offers to babysit for people or give away her children’s clothing to others when it is outgrown. Another friend’s husband was laid off from work. They weren’t able to tithe to their church at the level they were used to but she offered to make meals for people in need and to help care for their children. You may discover while donating your time that your desire to work for a cause gives you incentive to find more monetary resources to share, resources you didn’t know that you had. Often we lament our state of poverty but “poor” is a relative term. Living in America alone makes us wealthier than a majority of the world’s population. When you focus on counting your blessings, I guarantee that the resulting heart of gratitude will help you to see that your overflowing cup, indeed, has more to share than you ever thought possible.

There is nothing more visceral than cynicism, nothing more brutish than greed. These are reflexes, common and unremarkable, of the undeveloped spirit. But charity in its finest sense is always an act of the creative imagination. ~Charles P. Pierce

For a step-by-step guide on how to choose the best charity for your family check out our article entitled Giving to Those Who Need it the Most This Christmas.

¹Hunt, Mary. Debt-Proof Living: The Guide to Living Financially Free (Paramount: DPL Press, Inc. 2005), pp. 55 & 56.

⁴Dickens, Charles. A Christmas Carol on www.literature.org. (viewed Feb. 2011).