The Miracle of Giving with a Joyful Heart

Hello valued friends, partners, and colleagues,

This week, my heart has been reflecting on one of the greatest gifts my father has ever given me. It wasn’t financial wealth, business advice, or words of wisdom.

It was the example of a joyful heart that gives.

My father grew up in extreme poverty in Colombia. There were days when he didn’t have enough to eat. Yet he never allowed a lack of resources to become a lack of generosity.

When our family immigrated to the United States in the late 1980s, we started with almost nothing. Our first dining room table was a cardboard box. Then one day, my father won approximately $1,000 in the lottery.

Most people would have held tightly to that money.

My father bought furniture so our house could finally feel like a home. Then he gathered more than twenty members of our family and took everyone out to dinner.

His first instinct wasn’t to keep.

It was to give.

That is who he has always been.

Even today, at nearly ninety years old, he is still looking for someone to help, someone to encourage, or someone whose meal he can quietly pay for. I grew up hearing stories of him giving away his jacket, and even the shirt off his back, to someone who needed it more than he did.

Watching him over the years has taught me one of life’s greatest truths:

The greatest measure of wealth is not what sits in our bank account. It is what flows from our hearts into the lives of others.

When I was eight years old, I made a promise that one day I would retire my parents. Fifteen years ago, I was blessed to fulfill that promise.

Looking back, I realize that retiring my parents was never really about retirement at all. It was about gratitude. It was about honoring two extraordinary people who sacrificed everything for my future. Today, caring for them and providing them with a home filled with love, laughter, and peace is one of the greatest privileges of my life.

My father also taught me that money is simply a tool.

What matters most is the heart that holds it.

His life has challenged me to stop asking,

“How much do I have?”

and instead ask,

“How much good can I do with what I’ve been entrusted?”

Perhaps the greatest miracle isn’t receiving more.

Perhaps it’s becoming the kind of person who cannot wait to give.

Dad, thank you for showing me that generosity has nothing to do with abundance and everything to do with the heart.

Thank you for teaching me that the greatest inheritance we can leave behind isn’t money.

It’s our example.

Because in the end, our legacy will never be measured by what we owned.

It will be measured by the lives we touched, the hope we inspired, and the kindness we shared.

May we all strive to live with a joyful heart that gives.

After all, the richest people are not those who have the most. The richest indeed are those who bless the most!

With love and gratitude,

Luisa