The Art of Giving

                                                

     Several decades ago, when my girls were small and eagerly awaiting Santa’s arrival, I hit on a plan to enlist their help in cleaning their closet and toybox and train them in the valuable art of giving. After all, if Santa Claus peeked into their room and saw the mountain of toys, where would he leave their new ones? Next door? Across the street? Would their stockings be empty Christmas morning because Saint Nicholas would believe they were greedy, having all those toys and still wanting more? 

     So around Thanksgiving we began the family tradition of sorting through toys and clothes they had outgrown or grown tired of, but were still attractive enough to make someone else a little happier on the holiday. Giving away a beloved toy is a hard sell, even with the trade-off of knowing there are more to come very soon, but the girls enthusiastically approached this project without tears--until they saw those long-forgotten toys so attractively perched in cartons leaving the house. And I got a cleaner, clutter-free house for the holidays. 

     Through encouraging my children to learn to enjoy giving happiness away, I learned a thing or two also, lessons that became embedded in my heart. It all relates somehow to the Biblical  promise that His children shall become as vessels of living water, which didn’t sound all that significant to me until I heard a preacher describe the difference in the quality of water in a flowing river and a stagnant, smelly  pool, dammed up, no longer releasing any water. 

     Water flowing freely is purified as it travels and shares itself all along the riverbed, whereas by holding onto what it has, the stagnant pool deteriorates and its water becomes polluted and no longer a blessing.

     My goal in giving is not to receive more for myself, but to learn to become a conduit, readily sharing what is given to me. The benefit to recipient and giver is clear and ongoing as each one shares, as illustrated in the movie a few years ago Pay It Forward.

     Although I give with an open hand; God gives with both hands and my hand is still open to receive and share again. Whether or not the gift is appreciated, giving blesses me. Whether the recipient  receives a blessing with my gift is not my responsibility; it depends on  the openness of his heart to be a blessing to others. 

     After thinking about the principles involved, I concluded this is a fairly effective way of dealing with life: discard those things, habits and attitudes that ill serve you and make room for growth and blessings in return.