What Gifts Mean

Wisdom Nugget: Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need.

                                                                                                                                   - Khalil Gibran

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Someone once said that one of the greatest indications of a person’s worth is shown by the quality of gifts he receives, not just in quantity but by the reference attached to the gift. For example when you invite special guests to your home, do you warm up the leftovers in the refrigerator and serve them on paper plates? Of course not. Most of us prepare a special meal, use our best dishes and arrange our schedules so that we can spend quality time with our guests. In other words, we offer them our very best. The quality of sacrifice we are willing to make tells how important they are to us.

A lawyer and a merchant, joined a group of tourists who were travelling around the world. Before they started, a minister earnestly asked them to observe and remember any unusual and interesting things that they might see in the missionary countries through which the party was to travel. The men promised—carelessly, perhaps—to do so. One day in Korea, they saw in a field by the side of the road a boy pulling a crude plough, while an old man held the handles and directed it. The lawyer was amused, and took a snapshot of the scene. "That's a curious picture! I suppose they are very poor," he said to the missionary who was interpreter and guide to the party. "Yes," was the quiet reply "That is the family of Chi Noui. When the church was being built they were eager to give something to it, but they had no money so they sold their only ox and gave the money to the church. This spring they are pulling the plough themselves." The lawyer and the businessman by his side were silent for some moments. Then the businessman said, "That must have been a real sacrifice."

"They did not call it that," said the missionary. "They thought it was fortunate they had an ox to sell."

The amount of sacrifice always indicates the amount of love and reference.

How To Invest

Wisdom Nugget: "...self sacrifice is never entirely unselfish, for the giver never fails to receive."

Source: Photopin

 

 

Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

 

People are more afraid of losing when they invest. They ask, what if it does not produce a profitable return on investment?  Imagine what you would invest if you were guaranteed a 100% return on investment? Well let me introduce you to such an opportunity.

During the summer, a clergyman went to see a florists fine collection of roses:—there were white roses, red roses, yellow roses, climbing roses, and roses in pots, the colourful giant of battles and the modest moss rose—every species he had ever heard of, were there in rich profusion. The lady began plucking, right and left. Some bushes with but a single flower she plundered. The clergyman remonstrated. "You are robbing yourself, dear madam." "Oh, no! Do you not know that the way to make a rosebush abundantly produce healthy roses is to pluck its flowers freely? I lose nothing by what I give away," she explained.

We never lose anything by what we give away. Here is an investment that always guarantees a return.

 

Visit a friend later in the day. Spend time with your family. Always find opportunities to give. Give generously and freely, it is sure to produce a harvest of returns.

 

As a sage said, “self sacrifice is never entirely unselfish, for the giver never fails to receive”

REASONS TO INVEST WISELY

Wisdom Nugget: Take time to gather up the past so that you will be able to draw from your experience and invest them in the future.

                                                                                                                     - Jim Rohn

 

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Fela Durotoye once defined the word "POOR" as Passing Over Opportunity Regularly. Following that definition, the difference between you and the fellow who always hangs around you for a hand-out is that you maximized your opportunities and they didn't. Simply put, you could have been them and vice versa. So instead of talking them down and treating them despicably the next time they show up why not count your blessings; be thankful that you're in a position to give.

A story is told of Martin of Tours who met a beggar when he didn't have any money. But he noticed the beggar was freezing, and gave him what he had. He took off his soldier's overcoat, old and faded as it was, cut it in half, and wrapped half around the beggar. During the night Martin had a dream. He saw heaven opened, and Christ wearing half an overcoat. One of the angels asked, "Lord, why are you wearing that shabby old coat?" Christ answered, "Because my servant gave it to me." It was only a dream.

It pays to give.

Starting The Receiving Process

WISDOM NUGGET: Giving is better than receiving because giving starts the receiving process.

                                                                                                                        - Jim Rohn

 

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A lot of people want to be on the receiving side. And it is no sin or crime at all.

 

Everyone loves to receive gifts. However, we must recognise the infallible, life-governing, principles. One example of those principles is that of sowing and reaping (seed time and harvest shall not cease).

 

 As long as there is seed in the ground a harvest awaits: it is a universal law of nature. Also when it comes to receiving, the only guarantee that one will receive is that one has given.  

Once, a blind beggar sat beside a road, fingering the rice in his little bowl. The road stretched into nowhere both ways. The scarce travellers occasionally gave him a little rice. One day he heard the thunder of a chariot in the distance. It was the grand entourage of the maharajah. Never had they passed his way before. Surely the great one would stop and give him baskets of rice. Indeed, the golden chariot of the maharajah stopped before the poor beggar. The great one stepped down and the beggar fell before him. Then the sky seemed to fall in. "Give me your rice," said the great one. A fearful, hateful, scowl masked the face of the beggar. He reached into his bowl and thrust one grain of rice toward the maharajah. "Is that all?" said the great one. The beggar spat on the ground, cursed, and threw him one more grain of rice. The great one turned, entered his chariot, and was gone. The beggar—angry, empty, and crushed—fingered the remaining rice he had hoarded in his bowl. He felt something hard, different from the rice. He pulled it out. It was one grain of gold. He poured out his rice, caring nothing for it now. He found one other grain of gold. Had he trusted the great one, he could have had a grain of gold for every grain of rice.

 You could receive by begging or asking a favour. But the best way to receive is to give.

Giving Opens Hearts

WISDOM NUGGET: Giving a gift can open doors; it gives access to important people!

 

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“People don’t want to know how much you know, until they know how much you care,”

                                                                                                   - John C. Maxwell

 

 One of the most effective ways of winning people over is through giving. Giving has the power to melt hearts, encourage the embittered and battered. Giving can encourage people who wouldn't even be patient enough to hear a sermon.

A man bought a field next to a farmer who had been engaged in a long-standing dispute with the former owner about the exact boundary line between this field and his own property. When the new owner saw the farmer near the fence one day, he greeted him with the words, "I'm your new neighbour; and I would like to talk to you about the boundary line between our properties." The farmer assumed a belligerent attitude and said, "What about it?" "How much of this field do you claim as belonging to you?" asked the new owner. "I claim that your fence is a good two feet over on my property," replied the farmer. "Well, then, I want you to reset the fence four feet back on my side," replied the new owner. This completely took the fight out of the farmer and was the beginning of a new spirit of concession on his part also. A week letter both men had become such good friends and the Christian began to share his philosophies with his new neighbour.

Let your giving go before you. It has the ability of opening doors and making hearts receptive. Carson McCullers said “The closest thing to being cared for is to care for someone else.” Giving is the most powerful expression of care.