Shaun Groves
I’ve been experimenting on myself for a few months now. Every day I set out to give just one thing.
- undivided attention to a stranger
- an unusually large and undeserved tip
- quarters stacked on a candy machine at the grocery store
Admittedly, some days the gifts felt small and unappreciated, but they kept me in a habit of giving daily. And that habit changed me in couple of big ways.
Awareness
Spend an hour looking for an expired parking meter to feed and from then on you’ll notice them every time you’re downtown. I do. Daily generosity has trained my eyes to see unmet needs, big and small, all around me now.
Gratitude
My income isn’t limitless but I’m rich. I’m nearly infinitely wealthy in time, words, attention, talent, and creativity. I’ve been given so much that I can give something away every day. This discipline of daily giving is not only making me more aware of needs around me, but of the ability in me to meet so many of them.
Would you like to become more generous? To be more aware and grateful? Let’s practice generosity together every day and see what happens.
The Give List will be our guide – a free daily reminder to live generously.
Download Give Lists for May & June
What is the Give List?
The Give List is a free printable bookmark offering daily suggestions on what to give (and sometimes how, when, where and to whom). There will be a new Give List available every month at shaungroves.com/givelist
At the end of every list is a Big Give: save up all month long to make a donation to a charity I’ve researched and wholeheartedly recommend. Maybe you cut out a latte once a week, get the kids to search under the couch cushions, put a jar on the counter to dump change in at the end of each day. It’s amazing how much positive change even our loose change can buy when we all give together.
How to use the Give List
Just download, print, cut and fold into a bookmark, and give daily. Of course, it would also be great if you shared the Give List with others by sending them to shaungroves.com/givelist so that friends and family can practice generosity with us.
Share a picture of your Give List bookmark in use and be sure to add hashtag #GiveList for the chance to win one of my favorite books. One winner will be chosen at random every month.
Download Give Lists for May & June
Let me know how practicing generosity daily changes you and your family…and please pass along any suggestions for improving the list too. Thanks for trying this little experiment with me.
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Bri McKoy says:
This is amazing! Grateful for this opportunity to be more intentional about giving. Thanks, Shaun. I am totally in! And by default, so is Jeremy 🙂
Jolanthe says:
Such a great idea, Shaun. Printing them off – with lots of copies for the kids. My printer ink thanks you. 🙂
Ben Stewart says:
Genius!
Kelli says:
I love it. I’m looking forward to doing this with the kids. 🙂
Yvonne Reynolds says:
Just printed out my bookmark, looking forward to being more intentional with my giving over the next months. Thank you for such wonderful ideas!
Thomas D. Dalke says:
Very creative, light, witty, I think that’s how giving should be, enriching both!
Heather MacFadyen says:
slam dunk.
jennnahrstadt says:
thanks for giving us more than a day to prepare to participate in this! pre-planning is mental as much as practical. excited to look at this more thoroughly.
Shaun Groves says:
You’re welcome. Thanks for giving this little experiment a shot with me.
Kris Camealy says:
Whoop. There it is. It is flying out of my printer as we speak. LOVE this, Shaun.
Shaun Groves says:
Thank you for getting that song stuck in my head. Thank you very much.
Kris Camealy says:
boom chaka lacka chaka lacka… I live to serve. 😉
Katie Axelson says:
This is cool, Shaun! For Lent I committed to always buy something for someone else when I went to the store to buy something for myself. It was a neat sacrifice that taught me a lot about the people around me.
Shaun Groves says:
What a great idea! Did that cause you to shop less maybe? ; )
JoBea says:
What a great idea and such a handy way to keep a reminder before my eyes! I always have a book with me. Thanks Shaun.
Melissa Parker Cable says:
Yay! exactly the nudge and help I have been needing. Especially over the summer hope to have my kids share in this. Oh and by the way, I noticed you just visited our last church, where my husband was an associate pastor, Grace in Alexandria, LA. So glad you got to experience a taste of the fellowship we encountered there, and that presbyterians aren’t so scary after all 🙂
Ben & Michelle Kelly says:
Love this. Keeping a gratitude journal for several years has been life changing, but recently it has been a little flat. Maybe that is because I need to step out an offer gift graces.