What We Give…

There’s an old apocryphal story about a little boy who was touring the Rocky Mountains with his mother. The boy had been behaving badly, and his mother laid down the law and punished him. In response, he ran to the edge of a cliff and shouted, “I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!” Back came an echo: “Hate you! Hate you! Hate you!”

Caught off guard, the boy was frightened. He ran back to his mother and sobbed, “There’s a man over there who hates me.” The mother took her son by the hand and led him back to the edge of the cliff.

“Now,” she said, “this time call out, I love you! I love you! I love you!” As the boy obeyed, the sweet, clear words echoed back: “Love you! Love you! Love you!”

“What we give,” said the wise mother, “is exactly what we receive.”

It’s true, isn’t it? Newton’s third law of physics states, “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”

The Apostle Paul put it this way: “…you reap what you sow.”

There is no doubt: when we sow seeds of kindness, generosity, and love, they grow. They multiply. And in due time, we receive them back in kind.

Let us pray: Loving God, we ask you today to remove from us any seeds of bitterness, anger, or hate. Replace them with your mercy and love. And then, as we are so filled, help us to share that same grace in word and deed with each person we encounter today. And may we find that it is in giving that we receive. Amen.