“Draw your line today. To live with less, so others can have more. You have the opportunity to gain a lifestyle of excessive generosity. ” Jeff Shinabarger, More or Less
Fresh off a powerful mission trip to Guatemala with my school last week, I dug into Jeff Shinabarger’s book More or Less. On our trip, we encountered extreme poverty, gang-infested neighborhoods, houses made out of sheet metal scraps…and some of the happiest hopeful people I’ve ever met in my life. They seem to have a different perspective on “How much is enough?” That is the question that Shinabarger set out to answer in his book. Throughout the book, he mentions several “Enough Experiments” where people went a period of time without purchasing new clothes, walking to work, growing a community garden, etc. The main idea of this book is to recognize that we are able to be more generous when we desire for others to have more.
This philosophy is important to our family. We are committed to being debt-free. People make this choice for a variety of reasons. Some people make this choice in an effort to build wealth. Our family’s hope in this endeavor is to ultimately give away more than we make for the sake of the gospel and the good of others. Shinabarger gives the example of being intentional about giving things away. We have a spot in our home where we are always stacking things (clothes, books, toys, etc.) to give away. We have found that we are much better about giving things away now that we have a specific place to put these items. When we get to the point of giving them to someone in need, we find ourselves hunting around the house to find even more things to add to the pile!
Reading this book has inspired me to truly evaluate where in my life I could be more generous. I highlighted several things while reading and have pasted them below…
- Generous people-Instead of making people feel important, they make everyone feel loved. (Bob Goff)
- This is a book of extremes: extreme love, extreme grace, and extreme faith. (Bob Goff)
- An individual has not begun to live until he can rise above the narrow horizons of his particular individualist confers to the brooders concerns of all humanity. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
- It all starts with one question that changes everything: what is enough?
- Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved. Helen Keller
- What is enough and what is excess? Where do I draw a line? How do I draw a line?
- Our excess can make a difference, but we first have to see need in our society and opportunity for all people. When we see need, we are also introduced to opportunity–opportunity to understand our excess more fully.
- How do I move from luxury to generosity? I must create new habits that challenge my view of enough by forcing me to look through the lens of the suffering and therefore cause me to reexamine my personal lifestyle of excess.
- The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway. For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway. Mother Teresa
- There are two ways to get enough: one is to continue to accumulate more and more. The other is to desire less. G.K. Chesterton
- When we voluntarily choose the road of downward mobility to raise the social status of another human’s potential, we gain status that is greater than cultural class, false importance, or economic success. Like Jesus, we gain status in a different sort of success matrix by becoming a living and breathing example of hope on earth.
- The fact is that we need to let go of our convenience in order to gain a greater understanding of others’ needs; we need to suffer with others, instead of simply pitying them. This kind of inconvenient practice creates a new paradigm that does more than help; it moves us toward deeper understanding. Helping others through voluntary suffering is a short-term experience that forces us to engage a long-term problem. Understanding others ultimately challenges us to live a life that is more inclusive of others.
- Understanding the difference between convenience and necessity, and how they control our decisions, plays a significant role in determining how we live.
- I want to be able to give time freely to the person standing in front of me. I want to do less searching and contribute more to the present moment. I want to be present with my family, with my friends, at work, and in my conversations. I want to be known as a person who is fully here, fully present. But this kind of presence begins by choosing to be less busy.
- We can’t do everything, we need to understand our own limitations and pursue our true purpose. When we try doing everything, we’re probably not doing any one thing very well.
- Discipline follows discipline.
When we stop being busy, we start being honest.
Solitude is not selfish.
Intentionality makes relationships better.
Quitting (for a little while) makes work better. - Access is a gift granted to us for the sake of others. What if every time we were granted an opportunity to do something special we first thought about who we could take along with us to experience this special event? In every circle in which we gain access, may we invite another person along with us.
- Generosity is a lifestyle that seeks to understand the needs of others and strives to bring an end to that suffering.
- Out of excess, we can address issues of need and suffering.
- We will be known by the problems we solve.
- Influence is gained by doing something.
- When you have a good idea, people tell you and then they tell others.
- Every social innovation must learn to scale for maximum results.
- Every great idea needs a team of people to help the idea come to life.
- The only gift is a portion of thyself. Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Gifts”
- Take time to learn about your personal struggle of enough.
- I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do. Leonardo da Vinci
- Generous people will consistently choose less to give more.
- Thankfulness is the completion of generosity; it completes a communal experience and giving circle.
- Draw your line today. To live with less, so others can have more. You have the opportunity to gain a lifestyle of excessive generosity.