how can we keep giving?

Lewis tells us about how both love and hate spiral up and down as we indulge in them, today in A Year with C.S. Lewis.

He doesn't use those words, but he says they increase with compound interest. And I see this happen, too. When you start hating, it takes over your brain. You begin hating more people... for smaller offenses. You even, at times, begin to hate yourself.

But there is an aspect of God that unlocks a very giving, sacrificial love inside of us. That aspect is God's amazing generosity. God just gives and gives to us... never needing anything in return. He does WANT our love and praise, but He doesn't need them. And He goes on giving to us even when He doesn't get them in return. He is, in fact, a fountain of good things. It is His very nature to give us goodness. He gives to us because that is Who He is.

Well, when I look at my life, and I see how incredibly generous He has been to me... I think "How in the world can I be selfish, when God has been so generous to me?" And so it gives me the motivation to be generous to others. To love them the way they perceive love. To be kind to them, do nice things for them, give them gifts... expecting nothing in return. Because that's how God gives me His amazing gifts.

And God will never run out of amazing gifts to give us. When we're finally ready for it, He even gives us Himself.

God, thank You for Your incredible generosity, which enables me to be a little less selfish each day.