Giving is Receiving; Receiving is Giving

Sometimes when you won’t let people help you, you deprive them of a blessing.

~Larry Gerald

After my brother Keith’s wife was killed in a car accident, so many people offered to help that I think we all felt a little guilty about it. I have a large family, and we all wanted to keep busy. We didn’t feel like we should accept other people’s time and effort for things we could do for ourselves. That’s when my brother Larry reminded us that some of the people offering to bring food or to help out around the house probably needed to feel needed.

Self-sufficiency is a wonderful thing, and there’s just no substitute for a can-do attitude if we want to get ahead in life. Letting people help us isn’t always a bad thing, though. Life is about give and take, ebb and flow. Life without a giving spirit just isn’t worth much, but no one can hold up to being the giver all the time. And sometimes the best thing we can give is the opportunity for someone else to feel like he or she has something to offer.