It was the cold winter evening. A beggar with his 5 year old son was hungry. People tend to walk less in winter. They had nothing to eat since morning. He knocked on a door. The owner, furious at the audacity of beggar, shoved him backwards.
They covered themselves tightly with their tattered cloth. “Sir. Can you spare us some alms?”
The owner refused. “Sir, we have not eaten anything since morning. Please give us some food?”
The owner’s face grew more crossed. “Even leftovers would do? Anything?” He was worried about his son.The owner refused again.
“Any old clothes?” The owner refused again.
“Sir, Can you give me some sand from your garden?” The owner seemed surprised at the request. However, he agreed.
He went and brought him some sand. The beggar blessed him and started going away. The owner, still perplexed, called him. “Why did you ask for sand?”
“Because, it will teach you to give something”, replied beggar.
If you have not cultivated a heart of a giver, you have not earned anything. In words of Bob Hope - "If you haven't got any charity in your heart, you have the worst kind of heart trouble." There are three kinds of givers - the Flint, the Sponge and the Honeycomb. To get anything out of a flint you must hammer it. And then you get only chips and sparks. To get water out of a sponge you must squeeze it, and the more you use pressure, the more you will get. But the honeycomb just overflows with its own sweetness. Which kind of giver are you?
“Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough”
- Oprah Winfrey
"Remember that the happiest people are not those getting more, but those giving more." - H. Jackson Brown, Jr.