"No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another." ~Charles Dickens
Giving & Receiving: The Divine Impulse, part 4
Good morning ! I hope your weekend was restful and that your recreation helped to "re-create" you.
In the
month of August I have endeavored to use seemingly common things to uncover a greater thing that is higher up and further back than the common thing. In this last installment, we will look briefly at the acts of giving and receiving.
I'm the kind of person who has always loved to give gifts but have had great difficulty receiving gifts. I used to view this as a nice quality compared to the person who liked to receive but had difficulty giving.
The truth is that giving and receiving are two aspects of the same thing, not different things. It is like breathing, we must take in air in balance with letting air go.
Many of life's problems are a result of the truncation of this principal. Once the balance is upset, humanity begins to diminish, just like breathing. A mutually beneficial exchange is the heart of all love affairs, its the bedrock of great business, it is the foundation of community
and intimacy.
God is depicted as entering this exchange with us. Indescribable self-giving combined with a limitless receptivity and openness. No wonder we are drawn to this. This exchange is not only vertical, it is also horizontal. We experience this in our most intimate friendships. We give our confusion, insecurities along with our support and encouragement. In return we can appreciate the deficiencies of others while we give our love and friendship.
We all vary
in our intensity with this exchange, as we are often half-hearted. We have doubts and questions about reciprocation. Perhaps that is the first thing we need to give away. Let the "breath" all the way out. In return, we may very well receive lungs full of oxygen and life.
