I've been around this concept my whole life. First it was church. Something along the lines of giving your brother the shirt off your back. Then it was school where you were taught to share. Then it was middle school where everyone was selfish. Then high school where people would give you things in order to get things in return. But through it all, there have always been givers. My sister wrote a book about our father called Seeing the Father Through a Dad. It's kind of a coffee table book about heavenly lessons she learned from dad. I would be remiss if I didn't include a book review here for her sake: http://www.christianchronicle.org/article1354400~Book_Review_April_Glasgow_Estes._Seeing_the_Father_Through_a.
All the lessons are all valid. One of her chapters bears the same title as this blog. I have always kept my eyes open for people who are givers. No one likes selfish people. My best friend of 25 years? She has never asked for anything in return when I have needed something. When I sent her an SOS text message last October, she could have called, she could have texted back, what she did was she drove, while she was working nights, down to be with me at a very horrible time in my life. She took my two year old grocery shopping that night and cooked me dinner when I frankly was too upset to do more than fix Easy Mac. And she is not a kid person. Nary six weeks later my kiddo had an earache and diarreah from the antibiotics. I was so stressed about missing more work. My dad was none too happy about the prospect of a poopy toddler. My best friend drove down and was at my house before I finished my lunch hour, kept her the rest of the day, tantrum and all. We went through first marriages together and divorces together. We were there for each other. She just gets it, when someone asks, give.
My college roommate is another. We were fast friends. I tell people all the time it was worth the tuition I paid to live with her. She is hilarious! And she always knows when to say something and when to be quiet. Her first husband was tragically killed in a car accident on Christmas Eve several years ago. I was in Texas with another death in my then-husband's family. I cried and cried on the phone with her. When I called her needing to talk when my ex and I decided to split, she was there. Never yelling, never questioning, just there. When someone asks, give.
I have seen my family do the same. I have seen my parents sit down and write checks for people who had needs greater than their own. I have seen my family loan vehicles, open up our home, etc, for people who had a need. There is an excellent ethic there. I first learned that at home. When someone asks, give.
I even see it at work. I work for a prosthetics company. I see patients come in in wheel chairs and literally WALK out of this office. All because they were brave enough to ask and we have the expertise to help them. Yes, I will answer the devil's advocate and agree most of the time we get paid, but I have seen us take on cases for nothing. We try to see walking as a right, not a privilege. When someone asks, give.
I see it in Will. I noticed it right away. He probably should have noticed it too. ;) We had mutual friends and he was part of a group that said if I needed any help moving when I came back home to just holler. I needed a truck, so I hollered. He was at his then-girlfriend's house but he graciously finished his day with her and drove down, his three year old and all and allowed me to use his truck. Later he fixed several things around my parents house that had been in sore need of repair. Granted, I know he was kinda hanging around to see me, but he didn't have to fix things to see me.
The night of his work Christmas party where he had received a very sizeable bonus. A person walked up to him asking him for bus fare that very cold night. When he reached into his wallet he pulled out what he had, a $20, and gave it to them, told them to have a Merry Christmas, and walked on. When someone asks give.
That Christmas bonus was spent a little differently than you might think as well. His niece has an extremely rare autoimmune diffeciency syndrome and was being sent to New York in January. With the travel expenses his sister and her husband weren't going to have much of a Christmas. Bill made sure they did. The house was a *little* crowded but it was fun, including the five Nerf guns and thirty foam darts. And what was the most fun out of all the toys? A $1 toy grenade we all played hot potatoe with that he tossed in the basket at the Dollar Store while getting stocking stuffers. We almost took everything else back. All 10 kids had a Christmas. When someone asks give.
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