Are You a Giver or a Taker?

As I was signing up to do the Autism Speaks 5K and writing the check for my kids school fundraiser, I began to reflect on all the schedule events for charities and fundraisers I have this year and it hit me that my calendar is not as full as it ought to be so I challenged myself to get it full. As I continued to ponder why I had not committed to events yet, I realized that I had made excuses for being new to the area, dealing with life issues around my parents and kids, and many other things. It is so easy to get caught up in the trap of life of being busy, making excuses and not being productive or a contributor. One of the most important purposes in life is to serve and I had made many excuses on why I shouldn’t. We are all human and can get caught in the excuse trao from time to time and as long as we don't reside here we will be ok. If you see me in my daily walk, I am serving in other areas such as, volunteering to teach kids at church, educating people on preventive health and nutrition, and taking care of my parents, and I could go on, however, there are so many other ways we can give back and contribute so I have made the commitment to do so. Life is all about the choices so you have to ask yourself how you are showing up in this world.

Ask yourself are you contributing where you can or are you like I was using and making excuses to not serve? There are only two categories so are you a giver or are you a taker? See a lot of people get caught up in associating money with contribution. If you do not have the funds to contribute monetarily, find a way to volunteer your time or maybe an asset that you have that would be useful. For example, I had a soccer parent that had tents that could keep our kids from the elements during games, but could not contribute financially…this is still being a contributor. No matter what your financial status, you can find a way to be a contributor in life. If you are not a contributor, then you are a taker? So takers like to benefit from the contribution of those willing to serve. For example, there will be many this Friday at my daughter’s school fundraiser that will neither contribute money or their time or an asset to make this event successful, however, them and their kid(s) will benefit nonetheless. In any case, it is my prayer that each of you reading this will take an honest assessment and ask yourself are you fulfilling one of the most important purposes in life called serving. I challenge each of you to fill your calendar with more opportunities where you can contribute.