Why you should Give
The art of giving is just that – an art form. If you’ve ever read “The Five Languages of Love” by Dr. Gary Chapman then you’d understand why. He talks about the language of the giver and the receiver, the one who gives to show love and the one who accepts or sees that love when a gift is given. To understand one you must understand the other.
There are so many ways to give to another person. It can be in physical objects, money, time, love, acceptance, trust, friendship, oh the list goes on and on. When one usually things of giving they think of it is terms of physical things, money and time. They think of the presents they give out during the holidays, the money they give out to help a friend and the time they donate to charities. These things are all well and good, no one should ever stop giving to others in these ways, but there is so much more to giving than that.
To give out your love, your trust, your acceptance, understanding, faith, forgiveness, friendship and so forth is to give what humans desire the most out of life. To give out gifts of time and money are simply ways to show that one cares.
Parents teach their children to give to others through physical presents. You are taught to take a gift and wrap it in wrapping paper with a nice little bow on top or place it in a bag filled with tissue paper. The act of giving is displayed through the process of a gift like this. First one must go to the store, keeping a person in mind as they shop to find something they think he or she would like. Here love is displayed. The act of getting to know that person, to care about, trust and accept them for who they really are is brought forth in the act of choosing the present. Then one must take it home and wrap it, taking the time to not only shop for the gift but to give it to them in the traditional manner means that one gives over their time. And finally the act of actually giving it over to the person is to give up something of yourself to them. You give them your friendship, your love, your trust.
As time passes understanding creeps into the mind. Giving is not simply in gifts and one continues to give out their love and friendship to those around them. The act of giving a gift has become fun and exciting, in part because one knows the symbolism behind such a gesture and because one finds joy in giving that joy to another.
But to understand the importance of giving one must find the joy in receiving as well. For some it is hard to receive gifts that they do not want. It is not about being picky or choosy, it is about feeling misunderstood. To receive physical gifts that they do not want makes them wonder how much time the person is spending on them, how much they really care. To receive a wrong emotion from someone brings about doubts and fears. Then there are those who feel nervous about receiving gifts from others. For them it is not about how another person responds to them, it is about how they are responding to themselves. It is a feeling of inadequacy or loss of self worth. For both types of people that have a hard time receiving gifts, it can actually be easy to give gifts. But to know how to accept a gift is still important.
You see when we give; both in time and love, money and friendship, gifts and acceptance what we truly are doing is building relationships. That is why giving is so important. To give to a good cause is to give hope to those around you, to give your love to another is to give them acceptance and to give your friendship is to give another happiness.
