This past week I had the privelage of sharing some amazing moments with people who are dear to me. Some got married, some are expecting a bundle of joy (aches and pains aside) and others managed to create – and help me hold on to – a Moment in time.
Gifts played prominent roles in every joyous moment. It is never so much about the actual gift, than the giver and the spirit in which it is given.
Unfortunately, I had the displeasure of witnessing a gifting going sour when the receiver couldn’t “accept such an expensive” gift.
Bad blood now flows where good friendships blossomed.
A gift not accepted, for whatever reason, is not a rejection of the actual gift – but an act of disrespect towards the giver.
We must never allow our pride to destroy that which is good, by rejecting that which is freely given.
Some quotes from QuoteGarden:
You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give. ~Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet
What is bought is cheaper than a gift. ~Portuguese Proverb
The only gift is a portion of thyself. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
We should give as we would receive, cheerfully, quickly, and without hesitation; for there is no grace in a benefit that sticks to the fingers. ~Seneca
We do not quite forgive a giver. The hand that feeds us is in some danger of being bitten. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays
But it is a cold, lifeless business when you go to the shops to buy something, which does not represent your life and talent, but a goldsmith’s. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Gifts,” Essays, Second Series, 1844
If instead of a gem, or even a flower, we should cast the gift of a loving thought into the heart of a friend, that would be giving as the angels give. ~George MacDonald
The manner of giving is worth more than the gift. ~Pierre Corneille, Le Menteur
A hug is a great gift – one size fits all, and it’s easy to exchange. ~Author Unknown
If you give what can be taken, you are not really giving. Take what you are given, not what you want to be given. Give what cannot be taken. ~Idries Shah
To give and then not feel that one has given is the very best of all ways of giving. ~Max Beerbohm
Pleasure is spread through the earth in stray gifts to be claimed by whoever shall find.~William Wordsworth, 1806
What we are is God’s gift to us. What we become is our gift to God. ~Eleanor Powell
The Lord loveth a cheerful giver. He also accepteth from a grouch. ~Catherine Hall
God’s gifts put man’s best dreams to shame. ~Elizabeth Barrett Browning
God waits to win back his own flowers as gifts from man’s hands. ~Rabindranath Tagore, Stray Birds, 1916
You can give without loving, but you can never love without giving. ~Author Unknown
Nothing’s as mean as giving a little child something useful for Christmas. ~Kin Hubbard
I hate the giving of the hand unless the whole man accompanies it. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say “thank you?” ~William A. Ward
Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it. ~William Arthur Ward
It isn’t the size of the gift that matters, but the size of the heart that gives it. ~Quoted in The Angels’ Little Instruction Book by Eileen Elias Freeman, 1994
Love is, above all, the gift of oneself. ~Jean Anouilh