Friday, November 21, 2008

Thoughts on Giving


There are three kinds of givers: the flint, the sponge, and the honeycomb. Which kind are you?

To get anything from the flint, you must hammer it. Yet, all you generally get are chips and sparks. The flint gives nothing away if it can help it and even then only with a great display.

To get anything from the sponge, you must squeeze it. It readily yields to pressure, and the more it is pressed, the more it gives. Still, you must push.

To get anything from the honeycomb, however, you must only take what freely flows from it. It gives its sweetness generously dripping on all without pressure, without begging or badgering.

Note, too, that there is another difference in the honeycomb. It is a renewable resource.

If you are a “honeycomb giver” your life will be continually replenished as you give. And as long as you are connected to the source of life, you can never run dry. When you freely give, you will receive in like manner so that whatever you give away will soon be multiplied back to you.

- From God’s Little Lessons for Leaders (Tulsa, OK: Honor Books, 2001), 73.