Saturday, November 11, 2017
Give or Lose
Two men sit in
the local diner sipping coffee.
“Happy” is
going on and on about his architect son and his daughter who is a stay-at-home
mom. He is reminiscing about how he worked
so hard to put his son through college and about how he just fixed his daughter’s
garage door opener. His life seems so
full and meaningful. He talks about how blessed he is to have
grandkids that he watches every other Saturday.
He used to watch them with his wife, but she passed away. He misses her but is so blessed to have his
grandchildren .
“Grumpy’s” demeanor
is dark and he snaps at the waitress, grumbling at the cost of coffee. He complains about his son who was so expensive
to raise. In fact both of his kids are
such a drain on his finances. He has
just spent a whole day doing repairs at his daughter’s house. He gripes about
how this Saturday will be a complete waste because he will be stuck at his
daughter’s house overseeing a mess of kids while she and her husband go out and
have a good time. It was so much easier
when his wife was alive, but now it’s just him, saddled with a bunch of high
energy kids who drive him crazy.
The two above men
are really one man with two possible responses to life. In the first case he is
a giver. In the second case he is a
loser. The only difference is how he
chooses to hold things – selfishly or selflessly. ” Remember the words of the Lord Jesus,
how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:35b KJV) What if we measured
the quality our lives by how much we have given rather than how much we have
kept? When we are old, if we have little
because we have given much, we will probably still be happy. But, if we have much because we have given little,
we will probably be miserable and feel like we have been “used.”
Truth be told, in life everyone will
either give or lose. There is no way to
live without expending energy or sharing resources with others. If, every time we do something that benefits
someone else, we view it as something that costs us, we will feel like life or
people are taking from us. If, instead,
we view everything we do for or give to others as investing in others, we will
feel like we are helping someone. If we
give resentfully, we will feel miserable and used. If we give willingly, we can
feel happy and generous.
It could be that how you feel about
yourself and your world could be transformed simply by recognizing that life
costs everyone. Everyone who does a kind
deed or says a kind word loses something, but if they choose to treat it as
giving, it suddenly has a completely different feel.
Being a happy giver requires an
intentional perspective. Developing that
perspective might look something like this:
The next time you…
·
leave
a tip, think about how you blessed a struggling waitress
·
hold
the door for someone, think about how you brightened someone’s day
·
babysit
your relatives, you are providing a safe place for kids to flourish
·
pay a
tuition bill, you are investing in the lives of your children
·
go to
work, you are making a better life for your family
Life demands that we all give or
lose. Choose to be the happy and blessed
– think like a giver. The world will
seem like a better place and everyone around you will benefit.
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]
