Nearly all religions have in it the concept of giving away as gratitude for what you have. So, one day I woke up and thought to myself "What can I do?". At the time I did not have enough money to host my children for the weekend. Then I decided to do something small, and on my way to work I bought a loaf of bread and gave that away to a beggar sitting next to the road. What a great idea to do, but nothing happened in my day. The next day I did the same, and nothing spectacular happened. So, did I stop? No, there are some days that I forget, but the concept of giving can not be forgotten, and I still try to do this, but these are the lessons.
- Giving for the sake of giving:
Giving should be out of gratitude and not to expect anything back. Although we need to open ourselves up for abundance through giving, it has to do with giving and the end goal should not be to receive. After the first few days that I did this, I thought to myself it is not working, so why do it? Then I realized that if I give away with the attitude that I want some kind of reward will never work, that is not giving, that is trading. If I do not open my heart to the person that receives the loaf of bread, then I am missing the whole point. If you give away, give for the sake of giving and not for the sake of receiving.
- Size doesn't matter:
Sometimes we think that we can't make a difference, because we can not really change a person's life with a loaf of bread. You can not be more wrong. One of the lessons that we learn from spiritual wisdom is that if we act from a point of lack, we are not ready to receive anything. Do what you can with what you have. Today, a loaf of bread will cost you about R10.00. In context it is not much, but for the hungry person begging for food, that is worth more than what you can earn in a day. This might be 1% of the money in your account today or even less, but for the receiver it can not be measured. It has to do with gratitude and not magnitude, and once you understand that, it changes your world.
- It changes you:
Many people fall into depression, because they feel that they are not contributing to the world around them and they are worthless. What this lesson taught me was that if I can contribute and change just one person's life, then my day starts off with a whole different attitude, and I also had this feeling that my day can only get better, as I set the bar for my day. What also happened is that I started to see more and more things to be grateful for, as opposed to other days where I was sobbing about how bad life can be.
- It changes the world:
People tend to do things that is huge or not at all. We tend to forget that "the world" is made up of small particles, and if I can make a difference in one person's life, I have changed the world. It has nothing to do with a plane to Somalia full of grain (if you have the ability to do this, great), but with the pieces of grain that feeds just one person. Take the numbers, if we are 1000 people doing this every day, then there is 1000 less hungry people in the world. The numbers do add up, and I urge and ask every person reading this, to start doing this and join my "bread a day" movement.
- It connects you with your soul purpose:
Most religions teach us compassion and to love people around us as we love ourselves. Showing this gratitude, you show yourself that you are connected to something bigger than yourself and your ego. Our purpose is to look after each other, and to be connected to the Higher power where we come from. You realize that you are connected to something bigger than yourself, your life and your problems. For me it shows me that God loves me so much, that I can also contribute in His Kingdom.
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