Giving

“You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.” - Kahlil Gibran

It's that wonderful time of year again, the time for giving. And while it is an extremely joyous time, it still saddens me that there has to be a time for giving. Why can't it be like this all year round? I know we can't afford to buy gifts all year, but we don't have to give material gifts. The most precious gift anyone can receive is the gift of love, and the opposite is also true, the cruelest thing we can do is withhold our love from someone close to us.

“If you have much, give of your wealth; If you have little, give of your heart” - Arabian Proverb

I like to think of us channels. All we need to do is channel God's love, the minute we block it the minute things start going wrong. And there are different types of love, the love we have for our children is different to the love we have for our partner, and the love we have for our friends is different to the love we have for our family, so there is nothing wrong with telling your friend you love them.

“To give without any reward, or any notice, has a special quality of its own.” - Anne Morrow Lindbergh

When I talk about giving, I'm talking about true giving, and true giving means expecting nothing in return. As soon as we give expecting something in return it becomes conditional. I know a lot of people who are offended when they give a gift and the person receiving doesn't even say thank you. So what! Give because you want to give! The same goes for love, if we give love expecting love in return, we aren't really channeling it, we are
expecting it to do a u-turn. And that sounds rather selfish, doesn't it?


“The value of a man resides in what he gives and not in what he is capable of receiving.” - Albert Einstein

This planet really needs more love and care, so for the sake of future generations start giving gifts that cost nothing, give love, tolerance, understanding, kindness, patience, all the things we seem to expect from others. And most importantly, give these gifts to yourself first, only once you can accept them from yourself can you give them to others.

I leave with an obvious, yet forgotten truth.

“Remember that children, marriages, and flower gardens reflect the kind of care they get.” - H. Jackson Brown, Jr.