The smooth cool wrapping paper pressed against an anticipating palm. The slipping sound of a satin ribbon being pulled then, the inhale right before ripping the paper from a carefully selected box.
That feeling of watching the eyes of the recipient widen with excitement warms the heart of a giver making all the work completely worth while. However, giving to our loved ones is easy. That's not what we are talking about here. We are tackling giving when it isn't easy and how it starts a giving cycle.
Picture the ripples created by one pebble dropped in a still pond. That is how giving works.
There are two key factors that affect your cycle:
1. Intention of the Giver
2. What it is given out of.
Intention:
Why are you giving? Why is it difficult to give? What are you expecting after you release the gift? Could this person reciprocate? These are all questions one should ask when we give.
What is your motivating factor? Are you giving solely to help that person or are you giving because of that person's status and potential ability to give back to you? Keep your intentions pure.
If it is difficult for you to give, why? Is it because you don't have it? Is it because you don't like them? Giving from the heart may not always feel easy. Just because it is not easy, doesn't mean it isn't right to do. You may feel compelled to pay for the few groceries of an elderly person in line in front of you at the grocer, then, out of nowhere, ideas of what else you can do with that money immediately come into your head.
Are you giving with intention of reciprocation? If you knew there was no chance of reciprocation, would you still give it? If your answer is no, re-think your intentions. There is no feeling like that of doing something for someone 'just because'.
What are you giving out of?
A woman tightly squeezes her dollar in the palm of her hand. Her face close to dripping with perspiration waiting for the collection box at work to be passed to her. It is for an office gift for a co-worker. She wants to give but this time, it isn't easy. It seems obvious to her. Everyone else's bills are straightened and the denomination of the bill, clear and visible.
Finally, she takes the box with her left hand and puts her right fist deep into it, releases the squeezed bill and passes the box to the co-worker on her right.
"If she didn't want to give it, she just should have kept it, gosh." whispers a woman on her left.
"Who will get stuck having to unroll that?" whispers the lady on her right to her friend.
Sweat beads break from her forehead and slide down her face. Embarrassed, she can't hold in her feelings or urge to respond. Eyes focused to the floor, she speaks loud enough for them to hear. Her answer makes them immediately feel convicted for their comments.
"It's easy to give what you have allot of. It's not easy to give what you have a little of. That was my last dollar." She stands to walk out and feels a hand pull her back to her seat.
The woman on her left and woman on her right, speak to the others in the room then they hand the collection box to her with a teary-eyed apology. Their view of giving has changed forever. The ripple has began.
Unknowingly, this woman started a cycle of giving. With a pure intention and clean heart, she gave by faith. Her dollar, a pebble in the pond, couldn't buy a candy bar. But, given with the right heart, by faith, the cycle began. Did she anticipate their responses? No. A giving heart comes from genuine kindness.
Remember, it isn't just 'what' you give, it is what you give it out of. That is the beat of a true giving heart. All the best to you!