Generous living
At our small group Sunday night, our leader was covering a chapter in David Jeremiah’s study Signs of Life. One of the things he talked about was giving. We, as Christians, are to be GENEROUS in our giving.
I have been mulling that over and I thought of one practical way we can be generous.
At a restaurant, we typically order water with our meal because that’s what we drink with our meals at home. When the bill comes, the expected amount of the tip for our server is 15 – 18% of the total bill as is.
A fair amount would be to add the cost of drinks, had we ordered them and then give the server 15 – 18% of that.
A generous amount is to figure the cost of drinks, calculate 20% and round up.
I have been a server. Only back then we were called waitresses. I can tell you it is hard work and there a lot of people who are not generous or even fair. I can remember well the nights when someone left me a generous tip. I remember that I thought they must be very fine people indeed.
I think if we are going to bow our heads before we eat, it behooves us to be generous people.
I am sure there are other areas where we can be generous. I would love to hear your thoughts.
Bless you as you celebrate Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and then Easter Sunday.
I pray you will take time to reflect and remember each day how God expressed His love for us by sacrificing His Son for our eternal life.
I used to be a “server” too and I always leave a generous tip, even if the service is less than spectacular. Unless you have worked in the service industries, you don’t realize that how demanding it can be and not everything that can go wrong in a restaurant is the server’s fault. The kitchen may be backed up, the hostess may have seated too many tables too quickly, or they could be dealing with a demanding/ disgruntled customer at another table. It’s easy to be generous when you have amazing service. . but what about when you are unhappy with the service and meal? It’s easy to list off a million reasons why you shouldn’t leave a good tip. Maybe you really don’t want to- -after all their tip is based on how happy you are, right? But the definition of being generous is : showing a readiness to give more of something, as money or time, than is strictly necessary or expected.
Absolutely! I feel the same way! Unless you have worked in a restaurant and see all that goes on behind the scenes, it is hard to appreciate how the server takes the brunt of a bad experience. And yes – a very good point – a generous UNDERSERVED tip is truly a Jesus-like gesture <3
I remember Wayne giving a sermon and talking about the importance of erring on the side of generosity. He’s right and so we try to be generous. Thanks for the reminder!!!