“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”
-Winston Churchill
Benedict Joseph Labre lived in pre-revolution France. He struggled with mental illness virtually his entire life, failed each of the eleven times he tried to enter religious life, lost touch with his family, lived as a homeless person for his adult years, had no profession, subsisted on what he could collect as a beggar, and died of malnutrition at 35 years-old.
Success? Only if you consider sainthood a worthwhile accomplishment.
What is success to you? What does it look like? Honestly. Comfort, professional excellence, the respect of peers, some money, and a solid core of good friends? Yes, a good list. And I wouldn’t argue with any of these markers.
Yet St. Benedict Joseph Labre had none of these things. His life reads like a tragic story of failure that makes you want to cry. If he was living today, he’d be the dirty, anonymous, slightly scary-looking man at the bottom of the freeway offramp you try not to make eye contact with as you idle at the red light. Or the shivering corpse in the shadows, bundled up in rags and blankets, you hurry past as you make your way to your car on a cold night.
His life was not exactly the stuff of comic book heroes, or feel-good movies, or popular television.
But that’s not ultimately what success is. We can easily lose sight of this in a culture that is so externally oriented, so hell-bent on looking good and feeling superior.
“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”
Benedict shared with everyone he met on the pilgrimage routes of Europe; a kind word to the weary, a message of hope to the forlorn, even the food and clothes he’d been given to those who seemed hungrier and colder than he. And when he was attacked and beaten, which happened often, he gave forgiveness.
Success is not about what we collect, what we can count, and what we control. Success is about what we give. It is about the virtue of generosity. And that’s what makes Benedict significant. Why he’s remembered and revered more than those of his time who had so much. This man gave everything he could, materially and spiritually.
Generosity comes from the Latin root that means “to give birth.” And people who practice generosity...giving their time, their talent, and their treasure…”give birth.”
And what is born of generosity? Your legacy…your gift to future generations; that which will live on after you; what you will be remembered best for; what will frame your eternity. If you want to be relevant, if you want your life to matter, give.
Because it’s only generosity that will move you from merely "successful" to truly significant.
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About Me
- Ross Porter
- Dr. Ross Porter received his B.A. from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and his Master of Divinity (Theology) and Ph.D. (Clinical Psychology) degrees from Fuller Theological Seminary, where he first became interested in the integration of psychology and spirituality. He is a teacher, author, counselor, and consultant, specializing in integrative psychology, virtue ethics and family systems. He has taught at the high school, college, and graduate school levels. Ross is also the Founder and Executive Director of Stillpoint Family Resources, a non-profit organization that offers counseling services to individuals, couples, and families in crisis, with nine different office locations throughout Ventura, Los Angeles and Orange Counties (specific office locations can be found at www.stillpointfamilyresources.org). In 2009, Dr. Porter was named an “Outstanding Angeleno” by the Los Angeles Daily News. Ross and his wife Jennifer have been married for 21 years, and have four beautiful children. John Michael, their son who has Down Syndrome is their first born.
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