 Excerpt from America The Beautiful: Chapter 16: Life Les-sons From The Road.
I’ve always liked giving little gifts and/or doing small things for others. I’ve found that a tiny kindness can go a long way toward making a big difference in someone’s life – especially if it is Divinely timed. But a couple of years ago I realized that while I was pretty good at giving I absolutely sucked at receiving. I was the guy who got something and kept repeating, “Oh no, you shouldn’t have.” And I was the guy who got invited to lunch or dinner and made a fuss about wanting to help pay the check. Then it dawned on me that I was absolutely stealing the joy from the giver. I was denying them the same pleasure of giving that I so thoroughly enjoyed. So I made a commitment to myself to be better and reinforced that with a mantra, “I am a generous receiver.” I can tell you that it made a big difference to the kind people who wanted to take me site seeing, go hike at their special places, buy me dinner in one of their favorite spots, cook me a favorite meal, bake me a pie, invite me to family events, etc. They got the joy of giving and I got the joy of receiving. And when the time was right, I was able to return their kindness and treat them to something – which made me very happy. Cover Contents Books Home Hire Stories Comments are closed.
|