ELEVEN
THE GIFT OF
GIVING
The only way you can truly get
more out of life for yourself
is to give part of yourself away.
more out of life for yourself
is to give part of yourself away.
I was amazed at the
progress young Jason Stevens was making as we traveled through our
yearlong lesson in life together. He still had a long way to go,
but there was definitely a light appearing at the end of the
proverbial tunnel.
As we sat at the
conference table to begin our ninth month of this journey together,
I noticed an amazing change in Jason’s countenance, attitude, and
demeanor. I felt that he was actually looking forward to whatever
Red Stevens had in store for him this month. I knew that I
was.
Miss Hastings pressed
the appropriate button on the remote control, and Red Stevens
appeared once again on the video screen.
“Jason, I want to
congratulate you on passing your test as a dreamer. Don’t ever
think that you have this skill mastered. Your ability to dream and
turn those dreams into reality will grow as long as you grow as a
person.
“This month, I want
you to learn about the gift of giving. This is another one of those
paradoxical principles like we talked about several months ago.
Conventional wisdom would say that the less you give, the more you
have. The converse is true. The more you give, the more you have.
Abundance creates the ability to give; giving creates more
abundance. I don’t mean this simply in financial terms. This
principle is true in every area of your life.
“It is important to
be a giver and a receiver. Jason, financially, I have given you
everything that you have in this world. But, I violated the
principle involved in the gift of giving. I gave you money and
things out of a sense of obligation, not a true spirit of giving.
You received those things with an attitude of entitlement and
privilege instead of gratitude. Our attitudes have robbed us both
of the joy involved in the gift of giving.
“It is important when
you give something to someone that it be given with the right
spirit, not out of a sense of obligation. I learned to give to
people my whole life. I cannot imagine being deprived of the
privilege of giving things and part of myself to other
people.
“One of the key
principles in giving, however, is that the gift must be yours to
give—either something you earned or created or maybe, simply, part
of yourself.
“This month, I want
you to experience the gift of giving, but if you simply give away
the money that I gave you or the things it will buy, we will have
once again violated the principle. Therefore, every day for the
next thirty days, I want you to give something to someone else that
is a gift from you.”
“I don’t have
anything,” Jason mumbled.
Red’s voice
interrupted him. “Now, I know you’re probably trying to figure out
what in the world you have to give that really came from you.
Discovering the things that you already have to give to others will
unlock the gift of giving and let you enter into a joyous realm you
have never known before. If you are to continue along the path to
receiving the ultimate gift I have left you in my will, at the end
of this month you will return and report to Mr. Hamilton a gift
that you have given each day of this month. As always, I wish you
well.”
“How in the world am
I going to come up with something to give away every day that
didn’t come from my Uncle Red?” Jason exploded as the video ended.
“Everything I have came from him.”
I thought for a
minute and then replied, “I knew Red Stevens for more than half a
century. He was a tough man but a fair man. He would never demand
anything of you that you didn’t have the capacity to
accomplish.”
As Jason slowly
walked out of the conference room, I thought about how far he had
come, and I hoped the journey would not end at that
point.
Throughout that
month, I tried to think of things that someone who had been given
all his worldly possessions could give away that could actually be
called his own. I will admit to having a struggle coming up with a
handful of them, and I hoped Jason was doing well on his own. I
knew my sense of duty and loyalty to my oldest and dearest friend
would oblige me to judge the process fairly.
When Jason returned
on the last day of the month, he and Miss Hastings sat across my
desk from me. After we had exchanged brief greetings, Jason said,
“Look, I want you to know that I did my best, and I’m not sure all
of my gifts will fit into whatever Uncle Red had in mind. This
wasn’t easy.”
I smiled and replied,
“No lesson worth learning is ever easy.”
Jason unfolded a
piece of paper and began his report. “It was really tough to come
up with thirty things I could give to someone that I didn’t get
from my great-uncle. But here goes. “On the first day, I stopped at
a shopping center and found a parking space on the first row. As I
was getting out of my car, I noticed an elderly couple looking for
a space. I backed out and allowed them to park in my space, and I
parked in the back of the lot.”
Jason looked at me
for approval. I simply nodded and said, “Go on.”
“On the second day, I
got caught downtown in a thunderstorm. I shared my umbrella with a
young lady who didn’t have one. On the third day, I went to the
hospital and donated a pint of blood. On day four, I called a man
in my neighborhood who had told me he needed to buy new tires to
tell him there was a really good sale going on across town. On day
five, I helped an elderly woman carry her packages to her car. On
day six, I agreed to watch a neighbor’s children for her while she
went out with some friends. On day seven, I went to the Center for
the Blind and read articles to visually impaired students. On day
eight, I served lunch at the soup kitchen, and on day nine I wrote
a note and sent a poem to a friend.
“On day ten, I agreed
to take my neighbor’s kids to school. On day eleven, I helped box
and move donated items for the Salvation Army. On days twelve and
thirteen, I let some visiting foreign exchange students stay in my
home. On day fourteen, I helped a local Scout troop with their
weekly meeting. On day fifteen, I found a man with a dead battery
and jump-started his car. On day sixteen, I wrote letters for
several people who were in the hospital. On day seventeen, I went
to the local animal shelter and walked several of their dogs in the
park. On day eighteen, I gave the frequent flyer miles I had earned
with an airline to a high school band group planning a trip to a
parade in California. Day nineteen, I worked with a local service
organization and delivered meals to disabled and elderly
people.
“Days twenty,
twenty-one, twenty-two, and twenty-three, I took a group of
inner-city kids who had never been camping and fishing on a trip
with the Scout troop. I had never been camping or fishing either.
On day twenty-four, I helped a local church with their rummage
sale. Days twenty-five and twenty-six, I worked with a crew on a
Habitat for Humanity house. Day twenty-seven, I let a local charity
group use my home for a reception. Day twenty-eight, I helped one
of my neighbors rake the leaves out of his yard. Day twenty-nine,
believe it or not, I helped to bake cookies for the elementary
school’s bake sale.”
Jason stopped his
report at that point. I couldn’t imagine he had gone through
twenty-nine days of giving only to fail on the thirtieth day.
Finally, feeling alarmed, I asked, “And what about day thirty,
Jason?”
Jason laughed and
said, “Today is day thirty, and I would like both you and Miss
Hastings to have some of my homemade cookies from the bake
sale.”
Jason reached into a
bag I had not noticed at his feet and gave us each some of the
cookies.
I felt a sense of
relief that Jason had completed his task for the month. I took a
bite of one of his cookies and responded, “Not too bad, but I’m
glad that your dream does not involve a lot of
baking.”
We all laughed, and
Jason talked well into the afternoon about all the people he had
met and given part of himself to throughout the month. I was
reminded of how a small gift when it is given can be a magnificent
gift as it is received.