Let’s say there are two kinds of giving: Me-Me giving and You-You giving.

Me-Me giving doesn’t pay much attention to what the recipient wants, but gives things they want to give. Maybe you’ve felt that way when you’ve given a Me-Me giver a list of gifts you want, only to get something that was nowhere near anything on that list.

Me-Me givers have that kind of M.O. – they don’t pick up garbage in the park unless others are looking, they would never dream of putting premium gasoline in a borrowed car, and they’re only interested in giving to charity if they get their name on a brick. Their default setting is, ‘Tell me why I should I give.’

You-You giving is the opposite. It pays close attention to what recipients want and need. They shop with the recipient in mind and go to their favorite store no matter the hassle. You-You givers aren’t interested in being noticed, thanked, or singled out. It’s not that they wouldn’t appreciate it – but that it rarely occurs to them. Their default setting is, ‘Why shouldn’t I give?’

It’s somewhere between these two that you and I find ourselves – and only the hopeless narcissist wouldn’t be interested in becoming more like the latter.

The challenge is: how do we?

In Sunday’s gospel Jesus describes the You-You giver as someone who is utterly consumed with the presence of God in their lives – someone who’s deeply aware that all we see is not all there is. Awareness to the reality that everything we can see will vanish, and what we can’t see will stay forever, may help us to realize not only that worrying is pointless, but that serving others comes much easier when we’re aware that we’re also serving God.

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Reading

Gulliver’s Travels – Jonathan Swift

Bootstrapping – Greg Gianforte

Entrepreneur’s Toolkit – Harvard Business Essentials