80: Luck of the Draw

"...In the same way, as you are unable to take care of all of your fellow people, treated as the luck of the draw when the time and circumstance brings some into closer contact with you than others."

 This week, I’m reading a quote from De Doctrina Christiana by Augustine, published in 397 AD.

Reflection questions:

• Is there an area of your work where you need to step back and apply this framework: accepting our limits, focusing on what we can do, and releasing that which we can’t do or whom we can’t help?

• Related, what do you need to let go of and find freedom in that release?

Reflection on the quote:

Have you ever been overwhelmed by the sheer need of our work, and yet feel a bit crushed by limits we face in our work?  While we often feel like our challenges are new, that we face problems no one else has ever encountered. But history, as they say, rhymes. The human condition, with all its complexities and contradictions, remains constant. The needs have overwhelmed those who care for over a thousand years. 

When we feel that weight of the world on our shoulders, the overwhelming sense of need, the constant pull to do more, to be more, this quote gives us some practical wisdom. We first accept that our ability to help is constrained by our circumstances. We can’t do everything. We can’t solve every problem, heal every wound, or right every wrong.  Second, we identify what we have, especially our time, resources, and capacity.  Third, we prioritize that which we can do. We can cause change in our own local communities, focusing our efforts on those within our reach.  Finally, there is freedom in seeing that sometimes it’s just the luck of the draw for whom we can help or for what we can do. 

This work has entered the public domain.

To explore fundraising coaching deeper and to schedule an exploratory session, visit ServingNonprofits.com.

Music credit: Woeisuhmebop

Transcript

Welcome back. This podcast explores the wisdom of generosity, from ancient to modern, and the beautiful space where generosity occurs. If you like this podcast, please rate or review in your favorite podcast app. And, be sure to subscribe to this weekly podcast in your favorite podcast app.

Have you ever been overwhelmed by the sheer need of our work, and yet feel a bit crushed by limits we face in our work?  While we often feel like our challenges are new, that we face problems no one else has ever encountered. But history, as they say, rhymes. The human condition, with all its complexities and contradictions, remains constant. The needs have overwhelmed those who care for over a thousand years. To gain more insight, this week, I’m reading a quote from De Doctrina Christiana by Augustine, published in 397 AD.

All people are to be loved equally; but since you cannot be of service to everyone, you have to take greater care of those who are more closely joined to you by a turn, so to say, of fortune’s wheel, whether by occasion of place or time, or any other such circumstance. Say, for example, that you had a surplus of something, which ought properly to be given to anyone who had none of it, but there was not enough to give to two people. If you came across two people of whom neither is more obviously in need, or  more closely related to you than the other, there is nothing more just that you could do than to toss for it, to decide which of them should be given what could not be given to both. In the same way, as you are unable to take care of all of your fellow men, treated as the luck of the draw when the time and circumstance brings some into closer contact with you than others.

When we feel that weight of the world on our shoulders, the overwhelming sense of need, the constant pull to do more, to be more, this quote gives us some practical wisdom. We first accept that our ability to help is constrained by our circumstances. We can’t do everything. We can’t solve every problem, heal every wound, or right every wrong.  Second, we identify what we have, especially our time, resources, and capacity.  Third, we prioritize that which we can do. We can cause change in our own local communities, focusing our efforts on those within our reach.  Finally, there is freedom in seeing that sometimes it’s just the luck of the draw for whom we can help or for what we can do. 

Let’s reflect on two questions this week:

Is there an area of your work where you need to step back and apply this framework: accepting our limits, focusing on what we can do, and releasing that which we can’t do or whom we can’t help?

Related, what do you need to let go of and find freedom in that release?

Share this podcast if you enjoy these five-minute reflections and subscribe to receive these reflections released every Monday. To explore fundraising coaching deeper, visit Serving Nonprofits dot com. See you next week.