Share More, Serve More
AFFIRMATIONS
for
Meditation and Reflection
Every contribution I make in time and money helps others and expands abundance in my life.
I am gladly tithing a portion of all I earn because I am grateful for the blessings I have been given.
I am joyfully serving others knowing that I always get back more than I give.
Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
—LUKE 6:38
New International Version of the Bible
Throughout history, many of the world’s richest and most successful people have also been the most generous givers. Industrialist Andrew Carnegie, for example, funded lending libraries around the world, eventually building more than 3,500 facilities around the world—launching what later became the modern-day library system. And ever since the first Chicken Soup for the Soul book was published, Mark Victor Hansen and I tithed a portion of the profits to humanitarian and environmental organizations. Because the series was so successful, we’ve been able to give away millions of dollars to hundreds of charities.
With all the benefits that givers say they receive from sharing with others, many people still find tithing—giving of your money or time to a religious organization or a charity—a difficult decision. However, tithing is one of the best guarantees of prosperity ever known because tithing regularly puts into motion God’s universal force on your behalf and creates a spiritual bond between you and the God of abundance.
Every contribution I make in time and money helps others and expands abundance in my life.
Earning money and keeping score can be fun and exciting, but it’s of utmost importance to keep in view the bigger picture: that the size of your income and your collection of stuff is not what creates the fulfillment you enjoy in your life. Wealth for the sake of wealth can lead to greed.
I love this quote by Junior Murchison, founder of the Dallas Cowboys football team, “Money is like manure. If you spread it around it does a lot of good. But if you pile it up in one place, it stinks like hell.” When you share your success and wealth with others, greater success is gained. More people benefit. The positive outcome from sharing applies to just about everything, but it’s especially true when it comes to tithing both money and time.
Bob Allen, the bestselling author of The One Minute Millionaire, didn’t begin to tithe until he had lost all his wealth. Eventually, he reclaimed his prosperous life and determined that this time he would tithe. Today, he says he has so much opportunity, he couldn’t tap it all in one lifetime. He also said this, “You don’t tithe because you want to get something. You tithe because you’ve already gotten something . . . you tithe out of the gratitude you feel for the unbelievable blessing and lifestyle you have.”
I am gladly tithing a portion of all I earn because I am grateful for the blessings that I have been given.
“I
t is one of the beautiful compensations of this life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.” So said American essayist and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson. It’s true.
In fact, just like tithing, it’s a universal principle that you cannot serve others without it coming back multiplied to yourself. People who find a way to serve as volunteers, missionaries, and mentors experience the greatest levels of contentment and satisfaction, as well as deep inner joy, in their lives.
When you volunteer, you get back so much more than you give—often in the form of better health and more personal satisfaction with life.
But there’s another benefit to volunteering that’s like a “special bonus” for people who are already successful or are on their way to success: volunteering enables you to meet all kinds of people you would never otherwise get to know. Building a network of important relationships is one of the keys to success—and frequently, the people you meet as you serve are the people who make things happen in your profession and in your community. These connections are unexpected career and business rewards.
The bottom line is, givers get. The world responds much more positively to givers than it does to takers. So ask yourself what can you give, share, and tithe?
I am joyfully serving others knowing that I always get back more than I give.