Practice Reckless Generosity

T'is the season of giving. And this year just about everyone I know is "cutting back." What I'm learning is they aren't really cutting back on giving, but they are cutting back on spending. Me too.

Last night at a wonderful WomanSage Salon, speaker Sandy Moore (my dear friend, life coach and minister) asked the audience to consider "reckless generosity" this holiday season. That made me think about the hundreds of thousands of important non-profit organizations that do good work and rely on our contributions. We can't forget them.

This year, WomanSage adopted a small town in Baja California, Mexico, for a project called "Shoes for the Soul." If we chose to participate, we received photos of children holding a sign with a number and their first name. Then we could go out and purchase a pair of gym shoes or black dress shoes in the child's size. We could also put other little "treats" into the shoebox; but we couldn't use larger boxes. Gary and I bought a pair of cool sneakers for a 12 year-old boy named Carlos, then added candy and a Colorado Rockies baseball signed by one of the pitchers - a gift we received several years ago when the Rockies were my client. We were really excited about the gift and hope that Carlos enjoys it too! Besides Sandy's inspiring talk, my favorite part of last night was seeing a big van packed full to overflowing with holiday-wrapped shoeboxes.

I digress. "Reckless generosity" isn't just about giving money or gifts. It's about lending a helping hand, inviting a friend for coffee or Christmas dinner, doing something special for someone when they least expect it. In tough economic times, it's about giving a gift of friendship, laughter, spirit or soul instead of a material item. Gary and I have decided that this year we will give the money we would have spent on gifts for friends and family to organizations that feed our spirits all the time and especially in our time of need. We'll still give something to our loved ones - maybe a poem, a card or a great new recipe. That's what we did for our WomanSage sisters last night.

I digress again, but I must share the wonderful recipe I received from a WomanSage member who didn't sign her card (which was a creative art expression by an Alzheimer's patient - synchronicity again). Here it is:

GOOEY BUTTER CAKE
Cake
1 (18.25 oz) box yellow cake mix
1 egg
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
Filling
1 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
2 eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 16-oz. box confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a 13x9x2-inch baking pan.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine cake mix, egg and butter and mix well. Pat into the bottom of prepared pan and set aside. Still using electric mixer, beat cream cheese till smooth; add eggs and vanilla. Dump in sugar and beat well. Reduce speed and slowly pour in butter. Mix well. Pour filling onto cake mixture and spread evenly. Bake 40-50 minutes. Don't be afraid to make a judgment call on the cooking time becasue oven temp's can vary. You want the center to be a little gooey, so don't bake it past that point! Remove from oven and allow to cool completely. Cut into squares. Remember these wonderful little cakes are VERY rich and a little goes a long way, even for "piggies like me."

I can certainly relate to this recipe, being a piggy right now, and I can't wait to make the cake. Thank you, dear "sister," whoever you are! Tomorrow I'll share the NINE other versions of the gooey cake! One more way I can practice reckless generosity!