a generous life

this weekend I’m at an event that’s quite posh, being hosted at the Four Seasons Aviara (near San Diego), and will be serving and interacting with high net-worth individuals.. my body shuddered walking into this place, which is extremely nice, as I’m initially nervous in being at a place that is so nice, and the hotel staff is here waiting on my beck and call, and it’ll take me a few more hours to get used to it.. one feature offered by 2 sponsors is an Internet room (so I can blog at hi-speed)..

what’s (one of) the most amazing things about the attendance is that they (most if not all) are approachable, personable, conversational, humble, and generous, very different from the stereotype of rich people being snobbish, penurious, standoffish, etc.. now they do spend money carefully and wisely, recognizing that all they’ve earned is a gift of God, for which they’re diligent in being good stewards, and they’ve come as learners to help each other be strategic, share their successes and failures, very transparently, and there’s lots of great conversations.. I’m in the mix not b/c of my net-worth, but b/c I’m a staff person who works for some high net-worth people [and this event allows us to tag along] 🙂 and with the amenities and excursions available, I’m probably going to spend most of it getting into conversations..

the other sub-text to all of this is: it actually doesn’t matter how much money or resources you have, you can be generous with what you have.. that’s what Generous Giving is beginning to teach people about the real meaning of money (or at least, the Biblical meaning of money that’s often not talked about in many churches and among many Christians).. very helpful and freeing..