As summer 2025 winds down and harvest season will soon arrive, it is good to reflect on the generosity of God.

God cannot be outdone in generosity, although I don’t think God minds us trying to do so. Generosity of spirit is the mark of someone living and guided by the holy Spirit himself.

Hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us — Romans 5:5.

The indwelling holy Spirit living teaches us to recognize the abundant generosity of God in our lives and around us. Likewise, that same Spirit teaches us how to share our spiritual and material gifts with generosity of heart.

Look around at the verdancy of the summer vegetation. Look at how full and lush and beautiful it is.

If you grow a garden during the summer, think of your personal harvest, no matter how big or small. Although some seasons yield bigger harvests than others, any harvest of fresh flowers, fruits and vegetables from the soil of God’s creation is a bountiful gift.

While you are counting your harvest, be sure to take time to mindfully consider the wondrous nature of each of these uniquely nourishing gifts from God, providing nutrients for the body and the soul.

Despite times of literal and metaphorical drought in our lives, God still goes above and beyond in feeding us. Look no further than the time Jesus fed more than five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish.

Most of us have known people who seem to embody the spirit of God’s generosity in the way they give of themselves or their talents.

When I worked at Easter Seals’ Timber Pointe Outdoor Center, I encountered many people who fit this description.

The camp’s vice president, David, and his wife, Jenni, who happened to be deeply rooted in their Christian faith, taught me the meaning of being generous in heart. They had spent their lives working around the country in the camp industry, particularly with those who have physical and intellectual disabilities.

Running a summer camp is not easy work, and it often requires you to push beyond your own limits for the experience you are providing others. In addition to this, not-for-profit work requires active participation in fundraising events, which is no small task.

David and Jenni consistently set the bar high in all of this and in doing so, taught others how to do the same.

Back then, I came across these words from St. Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians that encapsulated to me David and Jenni’s lifetime of generous giving:

Consider this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

Each must do as already determined, without sadness or compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Moreover, God can make every grace abundant for you, so that in all things, always having all you need, you may have an abundance for every good work.

As it is written:

“He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor;

His righteousness endures forever.”

The one who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed and increase the harvest of your righteousness.

2 Corinthians 9:6-10

All these years later, these verses still enchant me and speak deeply to my soul.

We might not have a fat bank account. We might not have all the modern conveniences that others around us have. But the lack of these things in our lives does not prohibit us from giving of what we do have. Generosity of spirit is just as important as generosity of material wealth in supporting and encouraging each other.

God has given each of us the means to sow seeds that grow the fruits of the Spirit, which include love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These are the fruits that true followers of Christ sow and reap. If the way we conduct ourselves and live our lives is not producing these fruits, we need to do some soul searching and change course where necessary.

We live in extremely tenuous times, and it is easy to get sidetracked with anger as we lament the reckless destruction of so many programs designed to provide food, medicine, medical research and basic care for human beings.

When we find ourselves stuck in this anger, we must be able to recognize it and ask God for the grace to be the person he wants us to be. Then, we pick ourselves up and begin again with giving of ourselves, just as Jesus did as he walked the way to his crucifixion, because:

God can make every grace abundant for you, so that in all things, always having all you need, you may have an abundance for every good work.

SPIRIT MATTERS is a weekly column by Jerrilyn Zavada Novak that examines experiences common to the human spirit. Contact her at jzblue33@yahoo.com.