It is Thanksgiving. From the sermons and in the paper, it is the season to give and a time to express gratitude. I was considering the difference between giving and taking, giving and receiving. We can find it much easier to give to others than for others to give to us, that receiving thing.
When people offer something, the options are to take it or we can open our hands and hearts to receive. As I see it, taking means missing a wonderful opportunity to be gifted, to receive something with open hands and hearts instead of a closing your hand around something as a fist. When we can begin to move out of lack and see there is abundance, we can be open to sharing.
For some of us, we have been taught that giving is all we have to do to be accepted, even loved and “appreciated;” ou
r human doing is more suitable than our human being. When we receive, or take, it can invoke in others a lack, if you get, there is much less for me. As long as we offer our hearts and hands, there will be plenty of people who will take; some graciously, some greedily.
What if we offered with our hearts and accepted those gifts with an open heart with gratitude. Not everything offered is something we want to receive. There is discernment to what will serve our highest purpose. We can be gracious as we let them know that we appreciate the offer as we decline.
With Thanksgiving as the start of the holiday season, it is a great opportunity for us to be more open and loving, accepting and forgiving (mostly to ourselves) as we clear our old and stale baggage to live a freer life. The key is to be able to maintain this process way into the New Year as it becomes a loving way of life for us. Imagine how this can spread to others who haven’t experienced heart-felt loving kindness.
Happy Thanksgiving.
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