“Listen to the mustn’ts, child. Listen to the don’ts. Listen to the shouldn’ts, the impossibles, the won’ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me…
Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.”
Shel Silverstein

If the next year of your life is going to be the best year of your life, then the months that make up that year must be devoted to what I call “generous moments.”

My wife, Carol, and I have been blessed with a little extra, and we enjoy being generous to young people. We help some students in our local college here who can’t afford the tuition. And we get together with these students, four or five of them, every year. Their parents are thousands of miles away, and they are going to school on a shoestring, and we treat them like our kids. I don’t tell you that to impress you, but I do share it to impress upon you the importance of generosity in cultivating an
ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE.

Carol and I have found our lives enriched beyond words by our experiences with these remarkable young people, and we’ve become deeply grateful for their presence in our lives.

Your generous moment doesn’t have to look like ours. It could be the time you commit to helping at the local homeless shelter. Or it could be helping a grandson or granddaughter with homework for a certain amount of time each week.

What we receive in life is a function of what we contribute. If you ever feel as though you wish you were a little more grateful for the gifts bestowed to you in your life, the very best way to do that is to find a way to give something to someone who can benefit from what you have to offer.