To Live Is To Give #InTheseTimes

I was in the mall 2 weeks ago, searching for something to get for a colleague who was getting married. While trying to catch my breath, I overheard someone behind me saying that he doesn’t like buying things for people.
Uhn? I asked myself, “He doesn’t like it or he doesn’t want to?”

I can imagine him being married and going to visit his inlaws empty-handed. Or not buying one single gift of appreciation for the parents who brought him to this world and nurtured him.
Not to talk of brightening his wife’s day with gifts from time to time or on special occasions.

Anyways, I don’t know his background. I understand that some people prioritize giving more than others. But the fact remains that life itself is a gift.
The life we live is a rare gift to us by God. It was His choice to create us, to mould us into perfect beautiful beings, and to endow us with every physical and spiritual blessing we now possess.
So it just sits well to have the same attitude of giving towards God and others.

First, giving back to God will be the most rewarding art of gratitude anyone can possess. God deserves our best. Better put, He deserves our all.
He deserves our praises and worship. He also deserves our substances. Proverbs 3:9 buttresses this- “Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.“

Giving is living, if you stop giving, you stop living. Why don’t rivers run out of water? The more they flow into other streams and channels, the more they get refilled. It’s a simple secret!
“There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty. The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.” 
– Proverbs 11:24-25

The more you give, the more you get. A wise man once said, “a flowing water never goes stale, so just keep on flowing.”
We must keep flowing to keep afloat. We must keep giving to stay alive. Being alive is not just a function of breathing.

The impact we make on people, being of service to others, adding value to people, and encouraging others are unquantifiable ways to give.
As Winston Churchill puts it, “we make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” The good we give to others will always come back to us in multiple ways.

Make a pledge to make 2021 a year of selfless giving. Of time, money, knowledge, opportunities, and other resources.
And do it with a smile. Remember, “God loves a cheerful giver.”