The Flow of Giving and Receiving
Giving and receiving are subjects that I could write a lot about. There's so many different facets that make for fascinating lessons, but since neither of us have all day, I'll try to be brief.
A long time ago, I was told by a friend that it was better to give than it is to receive. It was greedy and wrong to want to receive and we must give, give, give in order to be a good person.
I was pretty young then, can't remember what age exactly, but this statement made an impression on me. I didn't know why it was better to give than to receive because goodness knows we all love to receive good things. Gifts in any form are good - money, clothing, food, makeup, etc. But wanting to have those things made me look greedy and bad to my friends, who were quick to judge and guilt me into their belief. And so, some part of me began to believe it too - that giving is better than receiving and when I give I'm not to expect to receive anything in return.
I went on to learn that is not true. What is true is when you give, you must expect to receive your good. It may not come in the form you wish, but your good will come. A little over twenty years ago, my husband, Ray, and I both learned this lesson, one evening, on our way to the grocery store. We had to buy enough food to last a few days with little to no money.
I had no money because I had mailed my last two dollars to my temple. As a demonstration of faith, I sent in the only money I had, and I prayed and believed that somehow, someway, enough money would magically appear. At least enough to be able to buy a few days worth of food for us and our three children. After I sent the money, I prayed all that week. Time came to buy the food, and no money had appeared.
Ray and I drove to the store in silence, both trying to figure out what we could buy with the ten dollars Ray had in his pocket. How could we stretch that ten dollars to last us through three meals a day for at least three days, maybe four? No matter how much I thought about it, and did the math, it just wasn't going to work. Ray parked the car and we began to walk towards the store entrance. The closer we got to the doors, the more upset I became inside. I then told Ray, that in faith, I had sent my last two dollars to the temple believing that somehow we would get the money to sustain us for the rest of the week. My eyes began to well with tears and I said, "I can't believe I sent the money in and now we don't have any. I was so stupid to believe it would work." Right at that moment, I looked down to watch my footing, before stepping up onto the sidewalk. I saw something. I wasn't sure what it was because my eyes were blurry from tears, but I reached down and scooped it up. I spent a second wiping my eyes, before opening my fist. I had scooped up forty dollars! It may not sound like a lot, but when you hardly have any money that amount is a small fortune. We had a total of fifty dollars and it was enough to last us a few days.
If you are a giver, and you are wondering where your good is, you must learn to become a receiver. I wrote the statement below over and over again until I learned how to expect to receive my good. Write it out. Believe it.
I am receiving. I am receiving now. I am receiving all the good the Universe has for me now.
(Unfortunately, I cannot remember which author wrote it. If you know who it is, please enlighten me.)
Accept your good in whatever form it comes, a free cup of coffee, a free lunch, money, a raise or a gift in any form. Those are all forms of receiving your good.
The truth is giving is one step in the Universal flow - receiving is the other. In order to receive, one must give. In order to give, one must receive. Both go hand in hand.
I started my journey with these two authors who have great affirmations you can use:
Florence Scovel Shinn http://bit.ly/1AzVc6yb
Catherine Ponder http://bit.ly/1D1iAbs
A long time ago, I was told by a friend that it was better to give than it is to receive. It was greedy and wrong to want to receive and we must give, give, give in order to be a good person.
I was pretty young then, can't remember what age exactly, but this statement made an impression on me. I didn't know why it was better to give than to receive because goodness knows we all love to receive good things. Gifts in any form are good - money, clothing, food, makeup, etc. But wanting to have those things made me look greedy and bad to my friends, who were quick to judge and guilt me into their belief. And so, some part of me began to believe it too - that giving is better than receiving and when I give I'm not to expect to receive anything in return.
I went on to learn that is not true. What is true is when you give, you must expect to receive your good. It may not come in the form you wish, but your good will come. A little over twenty years ago, my husband, Ray, and I both learned this lesson, one evening, on our way to the grocery store. We had to buy enough food to last a few days with little to no money.
I had no money because I had mailed my last two dollars to my temple. As a demonstration of faith, I sent in the only money I had, and I prayed and believed that somehow, someway, enough money would magically appear. At least enough to be able to buy a few days worth of food for us and our three children. After I sent the money, I prayed all that week. Time came to buy the food, and no money had appeared.
Ray and I drove to the store in silence, both trying to figure out what we could buy with the ten dollars Ray had in his pocket. How could we stretch that ten dollars to last us through three meals a day for at least three days, maybe four? No matter how much I thought about it, and did the math, it just wasn't going to work. Ray parked the car and we began to walk towards the store entrance. The closer we got to the doors, the more upset I became inside. I then told Ray, that in faith, I had sent my last two dollars to the temple believing that somehow we would get the money to sustain us for the rest of the week. My eyes began to well with tears and I said, "I can't believe I sent the money in and now we don't have any. I was so stupid to believe it would work." Right at that moment, I looked down to watch my footing, before stepping up onto the sidewalk. I saw something. I wasn't sure what it was because my eyes were blurry from tears, but I reached down and scooped it up. I spent a second wiping my eyes, before opening my fist. I had scooped up forty dollars! It may not sound like a lot, but when you hardly have any money that amount is a small fortune. We had a total of fifty dollars and it was enough to last us a few days.
If you are a giver, and you are wondering where your good is, you must learn to become a receiver. I wrote the statement below over and over again until I learned how to expect to receive my good. Write it out. Believe it.
I am receiving. I am receiving now. I am receiving all the good the Universe has for me now.
(Unfortunately, I cannot remember which author wrote it. If you know who it is, please enlighten me.)
Accept your good in whatever form it comes, a free cup of coffee, a free lunch, money, a raise or a gift in any form. Those are all forms of receiving your good.
The truth is giving is one step in the Universal flow - receiving is the other. In order to receive, one must give. In order to give, one must receive. Both go hand in hand.
I started my journey with these two authors who have great affirmations you can use:
Florence Scovel Shinn http://bit.ly/1AzVc6yb
Catherine Ponder http://bit.ly/1D1iAbs
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