THE JOY OF GIVING

2:15am on a Saturday morning, I have just finished one of the best books ever! It’s a story about Christmas even though Christmas is almost a month ago! It’s the story of Scrooge, the grumpy old man who found no fun in life or in living. He was so cold that the heat of many fires could not warm him. But been visited by the ghosts of his dead business partner and that of three Christmas seasons; the past, the present and the future things changed.

It’s a great book to read and filled with so much but one great lesson stands out; the lesson that life is sweetest when you show love and compassion to the people around you. It also taught the lesson that we could change our future even if our past is already set in stone! Our future is an open book, one that we as the owners can write whichever way we want.

Life is such a precious gift that it is impossible to live it alone without sharing the joys with the people around you, those you know and those you don’t know. Giving back is the essence of life and giving back in the most helpful and loving way makes the essence of a greater importance than all the riches and wealth in the world.
Giving is not all money mind you, just a smile, a handshake, a listening ear, a shoulder to cry on, a gift on an occasion or time spent with those who need it speaks so much more and has so much more lasting effect than money given without a kind word.

This is what Scrooge learnt in all the visits before the Christmas day and a lesson he took to heart never forgetting to be merry and happy. Every good seed we sow is a treasure in heaven. We build castles with each good deed and each smile we bring into people’s hearts. Each gift of giving no matter how small is another step to have a good eternity and a better tomorrow for ourselves. It gives you some peace and joy and helps to nourish our souls making it stronger to withstand pain and give more joy.

Scrooge learnt (as we all will if we take time to) that every unkindness is a chain that imprisons the soul of the unkind. When his business partner first appeared to him, he was a bitter unkind man who saw no good in man or the life he lived. He had lost so much as a result and would have continued to do so. But his friend appeared to him in chains of his own making, chains he had made stronger and tighter with his time in this world through his own deed. He had, like Scrooge, been unkind and unloving not giving of himself, his time, or resources it was a thing he regretted but could not change. However he was able to point this out to his friend who learning the errors of his ways changed for the better.

There is nothing as great or as wonderful as giving. It is the life source to the very existence of mankind. All great men where great not because they were rich or because they were wise but because in their strive to make life better for their fellow man they were able to create things that lasted over time long after they have gone, and we are alive today as witness to this.

Remember this words “give it will come back to you, good measures pressed down shaken together and running over, give it will come back to you. When you give, you give to the Lord!”