Better To Give

While my husband possesses many qualities and idiosyncrasies which endear me to him, it is perhaps his generous spirit which I most admire and which has most encouraged and goaded me in my attempts to root out the adulterating seeds of selfishness in my own heart. He truly is the kind of person who would give the coat off his back. Knowing this about him, it should have come as no surprise to me when I learned, quite inadvertently, that my dear husband had extended an invitation to many of our friends via Facebook to help him celebrate his 34th birthday by donating money to one of our favorite charities, Charity: Water. Moreover, Jared promised that he would match any amount raised out of his own birthday money. His goal was $100, and because of many other magnanimous individuals we are blessed to call friends, he raised $220 for this worthy cause. Consequently, eleven people living in underdeveloped countries, whose primary source of water is filthy, stagnant puddles and pools in the ground which they often walk hours to retrieve, will now gain access to clean, life-giving and sustaining water for twenty years. Click here to learn more about Charity: Water or its local arm Water4Christmas.

My choice for this week's poetry Wednesday is from Kahil Gibran's The Prophet. You can click here for more poetry.

Then said a rich man, "Speak to us of Giving."

And he answered:
It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.

For what are your possessions but things you keep and guard for fear you may need them tomorrow?

And tomorrow, what shall tomorrow bring to the overprudent dog burying bones in the trackless sand as he follows the pilgrims to the holy city?

And what is fear of need but need itself?

Is not dread of thirst when your well is full, thirst that is unquenchable?

There are those who give little of the much which they have - and they give it for recognition and their hidden desire makes their gifts unwholesome.

And there are those who have little and give it all.

These are the believers in life and the bounty of life, and their coffer is never empty.

There are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward.

And there are those who give with pain, and that pain is their baptism.

And there are those who give and know not pain in giving, nor do they seek joy, nor give with mindfulness of virtue;
They give as in yonder valley the myrtle breathes its fragrance into space.

Though the hands of such as these God speaks, and from behind their eyes He smiles upon the earth.

It is well to give when asked, but it is better to give unasked, through understanding;
And to the open-handed the search for one who shall receive is joy greater than giving
And is there aught you would withhold?

All you have shall some day be given;
Therefore give now, that the season of giving may be yours and not your inheritors'.

You often say, "I would give, but only to the deserving."

The trees in your orchard say not so, nor the flocks in your pasture.

They give that they may live, for to withhold is to perish.

Surely he who is worthy to receive his days and his nights is worthy of all else from you.

And he who has deserved to drink from the ocean of life deserves to fill his cup from your little stream.

And what desert greater shall there be than that which lies in the courage and the confidence, nay the charity, of receiving?

And who are you that men should rend their bosom and unveil their pride, that you may see their worth naked and their pride unabashed?

See first that you yourself deserve to be a giver, and an instrument of giving.

For in truth it is life that gives unto life - while you, who deem yourself a giver, are but a witness.

And you receivers - and you are all receivers - assume no weight of gratitude, lest you lay a yoke upon yourself and upon him who gives.

Rather rise together with the giver on his gifts as on wings;
For to be overmindful of your debt, is to doubt his generosity who has the free-hearted earth for mother, and God for father.