Giving

I was going through some old pictures and caught my eyes on a picture I took with some young friends in Bangladesh. I remembered how friendly and helpful they were.Although most of them in the village I visited only have a meal a day, they were always in smiles. Though poor, they gave offering during church service. During my visit, they made me little crowns made from leaves and gave me sweets and tissue papers when those were considered luxury items to them. Before I left the village, they gave me a free ride on their bicycles touring me around a few beautiful villages because they remembered that I had mentioned the desire to do so.These friends had taught me a simple yet important lesson about giving. It was truly a matter of the heart. Irregardless the value of the gift, the most important thing that makes the gift beautiful is the sincerity of the heart. If one may gift a great gift but clearly portray insincerity or unwillingness to give, then the gift has been devalued. It is not how great our gift is which more than often serves to show how great we are, but the intention of serving the other person that makes giving a beautiful thing.