Giving to Others

We sometimes meet people who want to keep all the best stuff for themselves and only themselves, which is called living with a scarcity mindset. If you want to have an abundance mindset, think like the farmer.

There was a farmer who grew excellent-quality corn. Every year he won the award for the best-grown corn. One year, a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learned something interesting about how he grew it. The reporter discovered that the farmer shared his seed corn with his neighbors. “How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors when they enter corn in the same competition with yours each year?” the reporter asked.

“Why, sir,” said the farmer, “Didn’t you know? The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbors grow inferior corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good corn.”

So it is with our lives. Those who want to live meaningfully and well must help enrich the lives of others. The value of a life is measured by the lives it touches. Those who choose to be happy must help others find happiness. For the welfare of each is bound up with the welfare of all.

Something to Think About
This reminds me of the lesson about giving; it is better to give than to receive. Many of us were raised to understand that by hoarding everything that comes our way, we limit what can flow into our life. And often, what comes into our life is even greater than what we give away.

Weekly Activity
Give freely and open up a space to receive even greater blessings.

Words of Wisdom
“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.”- Robert Lewis Stevenson

“No one has ever become poor by giving.” – Anne Frank

“Always give without remembering and always receive without forgetting.” – Brian Tracy

“We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.” – Winston Churchill

“There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up.” – John Holmes