The Joy of Giving

        'Tis the season when people feel something special in the air--an incentive to be more generous to others in need.  Christmas is such a lovely time of year, and even more inspiring, is seeing evidence of divine Love in action in so many ways.

        A Christian Science practitioner I know once said something I haven't forgotten.  She said that giving and receiving are one--and that one is giving.  There was a time when I thought, if I'm too generous with this or that, there won't be enough left over for me.  I've since learned that this is not so.  Not at all.  The more I have given, the more good has come back--which is just what the Bible tells us will  happen.

        Jesus says, "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom.  For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again."  (Matthew 6:24)

        And I love these words from Mary Baker Eddy:  "Goodness and benevolence never tire.  They maintain themselves and others and never stop from exhaustion.  He who is afraid of  being too generous has lost the power of being magnanimous."  (From "First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, page 165)

        Coming into the right relation to the Christian requirement to be loving and giving toward mankind brings the supply we need.  And it even ensures enough left over to help others, as I have said.  Best of all, it brings us such joy in giving and receiving evidences of God's inexhaustibler resources, which makes this season truly wonderful.