Lessons For Living Life Wide OpenSample

On any given Saturday morning, I can walk through the living room to find Mareto and Arsema excitedly crying out, “Gold dust!” and tossing imaginary fistfuls of it into the air. I love to watch them giggle and grin and delight in their little game. At some point Arsema will open her hands and say, “Oh no! Mine is all gone!” Mareto then says in his sweet, upbeat voice, “Here’s some gold dust!” and pours some from his hands into hers. Then the game continues as they toss the gold dust into the air and dance around.

I’m always touched by Mareto’s innocent and generous expression of love. Somewhere along the way he figured out what so many of us have forgotten: It is better to give than to receive. Why? Because love, and the giving of love, doesn’t divide; it multiplies.

When Mareto pours his imaginary gold dust into Arsema’s hands, the game doesn’t end. It continues with enthusiasm. It doesn’t occur to Mareto that giving away his magical dust will mean less for him. It only means that he and Arsema can continue having fun together. . . .

Somewhere along the way we forget that we all belong to each other, and when we give of ourselves—our time, money, our possessions, and our love—we all gain.

I love the way Jesus explains it in Luke 6:38: “Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

Give and it will be given to you. Give and everybody gains: the giver and the receiver. Not just a little, but pressed down—like brown sugar packed into a measuring cup to fit in every ounce of sugar possible. Shaken together, to get just the right amount . . . and running over, overflowing with love and joy and hope. Two now hold what one once held, and neither forfeits their half of the original measure of grace. Each now holds a whole measure. . . .

We need others to love and to add love to our lives. It can be scary letting new people in, but there is so much joy to be found in community and doing life together. No, love doesn’t divide and subtract—it multiplies and adds.