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sometimes inspiring, sometimes personal meanderings of the Heart's opening in the every-day-ness of life...

Sunday, December 1, 2019

The Season of Giving - Kahlil Gibran


You give but little when you give your possessions.
It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.
For what are your possessions but things you keep and
guard for fear you may need them tomorrow?
And tomorrow, what shall tomorrow bring to the
over-prudent dog burying bones in the trackless sand
as he follows the pilgrims to the holy city?
And what is fear of need but need itself...
Is not dread of thirst when your well is full,
the thirst that is unquenchable?

There are those who give little of the much of which
they have - and they give it for recognition and their
hidden desire makes their gifts unwholesome.  And there
are those who have little and give it all.  There are the
believers in life and the bounty of life, and their coffer
is never empty.  There are those who give with pain,
and that pain is their baptism.  And there are those who
give and know not pain in giving, nor do they seek joy,
nor give with mindfulness of virtue;  they give as in
yonder valley the myrtle breathes its fragrance into space.

It is well to give when asked, but it is better to give
unasked, through understanding.  And to the open-handed
the search for one who shall receive is joy greater than
giving.  And is there aught you would withhold?
All you have shall some day be given [away].
Therefore, give now, that the season of giving
may be yours and not your inheritors.

You often say, "I would give, but only to the deserving."
The trees in your orchard say not so, nor the flocks in
your pasture.  They give that they may live, for to withhold
is to perish.  Surely he who is worthy to receive his days
and his nights, is worthy of all else from you.
And he who has deserved to drink from the ocean of life
deserves to fill his cup from your little stream.

See first that you yourself deserve to be a giver, and an
instrument of giving.
For in truth it is life that gives unto life while you,
who deem yourself a giver, are but a witness.

Kahlil Gibran

with thanks to The Beauty We Love

~

Photo from the Internet


2 comments:

  1. beautiful. I love the paragraph beginning with I would give but only to the deserving. thank you

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes indeed. So many times we look down on the homeless or those in need, or create some artificial standard for "giving" that is "justified."

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