Give(n)

One of my New Year's resolutions this year is to give something to someone every day - a helping hand, a hug, a word of encouragement, a gift, a note, a ride......it is going quite well so far and it is a great way to get out of myself and think more about others. As a great bonus, it has been bringing me great joy.

But then, God showed me that there is another side of it, and that is to receive, to be given something.

Work has been keeping me quite busy, and I had to break two of my rules recently: not to check work email at home, and not to work over the weekend. I did both this weekend. But at the same time, many people are working way more than I am.

One of them is a lady with whom I had a meeting a couple of weeks ago. Every one in her admissions office has been working through our two-week University break and has been putting in twenty hours of overtime every week (not an exaggeration). But as I was sitting in her office, she was incredibly patient with my questions and spent an hour helping me. It struck me that given her busy schedule, she could have chosen not to meet with me or not to give me as much time as she did. But she gave me her precious time.

Then there is my wonderful hubby. I did not cook dinner for about two weeks because I was home late every night. But he did not complain about the TV dinners or having to eat by himself. Rather, he was incredibly understanding and helped with various housework. When I fell asleep on the couch, he let me sleep and just helped me up to bed. On the weekends, he still let me play my league tennis and gave me time to nap. :)

Thankfully, I were able to leave relatively on time on Fridays for our date nights; and so far this week, I have been leaving the office while there is still daylight; I even cooked dinner for the first time in a while last night. Things I took for granted felt so much like gifts.

Giving is a two-way street. Through giving, God gives me the joy of giving, and He has opened my eyes quite widely to see the many generous givers around me who shower me with many precious things I might otherwise have not appreciated as much.