The Spirit Of Giving

written by Jenna Gebeke
In the spirit of the Holiday season, this experience couldn’t have come with better timing. Since my recent move to Denver, CO one of the things that has been the hardest for me to get used to is the higher amount of homeless people that reside on almost every street corner anywhere you go.
Driving by them is always the toughest decision for me…and many questions run through my head. Do I stop? Or do I keep going? Do I have cash on me to give? How much should I give?
I just come back from Toronto where I had advance training with the Modern Mystery School and while I was there this topic came up again for me. One of my instructors addressed it in a way that really made sense and hit home. They said that in every one of these cases, we need to follow our hearts – not our heads as our heads lie to us and our hearts are always pure. We need to use our discernment in a case by case basis to determine the best course of action…turn off our heads and listen to what our heart tells us. And if our hearts tell us to give, we should cast light on it and be in joy while giving…because by sending light we push away the darkness, both in ourselves and in the recipient.
So last week when I was driving down the road, I was prepared to make this decision from my heart. I drove past a man as flow of traffic did not allow me to stop, but then came up to red light with a woman on the corner holding a sign that said “Anything helps, even a SMILE ☺”. I looked around at all of the cars at the intersection and every single one of the drivers was reading the sign and genuinely smiling to the woman. I made eye contact with her and gave her a warm sincere smile…and as the light turned green and I saw how she affected all of us in our comfy warm cars. I surprised myself when I found myself out loud say “what a little light worker”. That was it, it was in that moment that I decided I needed to turn around and give her money. She lifted me up (and many others) that day with a simple sign that gave me joy and hope and I wanted to return the favor. So I turned around and drove the 3 blocks back. I parked in a parking lot and walked over to her with my $20 bill as it was all that I had on me. She thanked me, and I said “Thank you, you are a light worker in your own right, God Bless.” I gave the $20 (which was more than I have ever given to a homeless person) in humble gratitude as she had truly shifted me and so many other people that day. She was doing a greater service and spreading more light to more people with that simple sign than I was doing by giving her $20.
So, what did I learn? Spreading light and helping others by giving to an organization is great, but if the time and situation is right – helping someone in person who is truly in need is greater because it is personal – the connection from one human to another that ignites the compassion that is inside our hearts does huge service. The joy that you can share by doing service and taking care of your fellow brothers and sisters is priceless. Basically, it reminded me that living from the heart and projecting joy and compassion to my fellow humans needs to become something that I do more naturally in my daily life. I lived a blessed life and am thankful for everything that I have…but this experience made me even more thankful for all that I am able to give and share with others.
Tips for raising the vibration of your donation this year:
• When giving through an organization (whether it be money or items), giving in a sense of joy and from a place of love will raise the vibration of your donation to have even more of a profound affect for that organization or person that receives the item you donated.
• If you are not financially in a place to give a donation, one of the highest acts of service we can do for others is to genuinely smile at them. Smiling brings joy. By smiling you bring yourself joy as well sending joy to others…when you smile from the heart everyone wins!