Gave blood this morning.

This was scheduled last week, thus it is different than my other posts for this challenge, as it was planned. Driving over to the blood drive, the thought struck me that there three different types of giving:

• Spontaneous Giving – Tossing a quarter in the charity box at the checkout line. Holding a door for someone, etc.
• Scheduled Giving – A calendar event. Something routine. A monthly donation to a charity. Serving in a role with defined expectations for a non-profit.
• Thoughtful Giving – Thinking about and breaking from one’s routines in order to give.

My guess is that most of the giving we do in our lives falls primarily into the first or second category. Both are extremely beneficial but suffer from two traps. Spontaneous Giving just may not happen when we’re not in the mood and Scheduled Giving may become mindless or robotic leading to bad or undesirable results.

Thoughtful Giving might be the most valuable because it creates new opportunities. It can lead to Spontaneous Giving and Scheduled Giving. It encourages active thinking and engagement. It’s also the hardest.

Thoughtful Giving is the goal with this challenge.