Sunday, December 5, 2010

Who's serving who?

I wake in the morning and freshen up for the day... When I have my children with me, I wake them up, and get them going and get them off to school. Other than when the kids are with me? It's quiet... I like the silence of the day (or night). Time and space to read, write, and think...

I have recently however, had a dear friend (and his 4 kids) move in with me due to extenuating circumstances. Its only for a short time as the older of the kids are heading out to serve LDS missions soon, and the Father (my friend) will also be leaving. They have only been with me for a few months now. They are respectful of my home, and have been a joy to have around.

As we gathered today to eat lunch... Two Dads, and kids surrounding the table, it hit me that in less than 30 days...they will all be gone. My home will once again be empty and silent. I admit that I have grown accustomed to having my good friend near. We share ideals and ideas, as we both are learning to quiet the storms that arise from within. To live peacefully in a world with so many things that we could worry about, yet we are both seeing that it's better to let go of the past, not assume the future, but live today, and praise God for the gift that today truly is! We work our own business ventures, raise and counsel our children. We work hard and long on that which to us matters, and we hang and shoot a game of pool when time permits. He has been a wonderful friend. But once again... soon to be gone for a long season ahead. I know that he is grateful for me sharing my home, and he and his family show their gratitude in word and deed... Yet what they do not see is how much I have been the receiver and NOT the giver. They have allowed me to be a part in their loves and contribute. Who benefits more...the giver or the receiver? Giving and receiving are one in the same. Having the powerful spirits of two young men preparing to depart on full time missions, where they will be eating, sleeping, and breathing the gospel of Jesus Christ. What a spirit they bring with them, as they have been here. My son and daughter have been around that and have notably recognized their powerful influence. This family has given me the opportunity to serve and give, they have taught me and my children to believe in and chase dreams. They have shown humility and honor as they have turned to God for answers and guidance. They have been here without any expectations or assumptions... Only positive gratitude and love (which actually makes me want to give more and more).
My heart is saddened as I see them beginning to depart and leave. Yet my heart is also full because I have been given the chance to love and share, more than before. How undeserving I feel when they thank me... It is I that thank them for allowing me to take part in their lives in such a small and tiny way. Small as my contribution has been, I have benefited the most in a feeling of purpose and love. I have been able to see that love is alive and real when we serve and give. How and why do I so easily forget the promise from The Lord. "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it." (Matthew 16:25)
They have reminded me that this life is about helping each other get to the other side. May we all be less selfish, and more selfless... and strive to be "in the service of our fellow men, as we are only in the service of our God." How sweet is the joy that comes from such...
So I wanted to look around and share a bit... :)

I'll miss you guys so much... More than you'll know!!

9 comments:

  1. Matt the movie star! I hope your week of workshops hasn't been too stressful. I had so much fun at the storesonline workshop I didn't want to leave. But I'm sure you don't want to hear about that on your site. I have a couple of your movies qeued (is that spelled right?) up on my Netflix and am anxiously awaiting their arrival in the mailbox. I enjoyed reading some of you postings. The emotional and spiritual content were much more than I expected. If your acting is anything like your writing then I have great expectations... by the way, I love your look! ;)
    Charity Dillon

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  2. Thank you very much for coming to the conference Charity, and I hope you have enjoyed the movies that you watched... Please come back! I love going back and forth and sharing thoughts and ideas.
    Thank you for the compliments :)

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  3. Introduction:
    Author : Maryse CANOVAS

    Oh how, your comment Matthew touched me! Yes, your feedback later using that brought you knew your friend and family without waiting for anything in return and the joy you have harvested about it, proves that your action was the result of a gesture of spontaneous love of you; How beautiful !! Thus, you have highlighted the passage of Acts 20: 35 "There is more blessed to give than to receive."
    As your feelings and your experiences resonate in me, and remind me of situations where I do not always find the right words to express the extent that they have had in my life!
    Roads, lives intersect and leave an indelible mark in our heart, occasionally upsetting our outlook, then anchoring as safe and final values of our existence.
    We both share the faith that drives us to see the needs of others and respond where our reach.

    I agree with you Matthew, when you write :
    "YET WHAT THEY DO NOT SEE HOW MUCH IS I HAVE BEEN THE RECEIVER AND NOT THE GIVER."
    I find your beautiful feelings and worth sharing in fact, because when we have the opportunity to serve, we forget our own needs to give each other a hand, a slice of life.

    I do not know you that since only a little over a year, and I decided after reading this beautiful text to write my answer, even if it is a little late on your blog, and I pray thee, s' Please do forgive me, Matthew. :)
    I wish to speak about the gifts and happiness that we have the opportunity to opt out.

    For indeed, I personally think this:
    THE SMALLEST THINGS WORTH THE BETTER THAN THE GREATEST FOR! ...
    This means that we can be very early to teach our children that love is demonstrated.

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  4. Part 1
    THE PLEASURE OF GIVING
    Author : Maryse CANOVAS

    I know a man, poor and rich time of friendship, which does not hesitate, always available, to its necessary to sleep less is needed to cross the whole of France to comfort a proven friend, besides never, what remains to him.

    I know women, isolated, perhaps lacked love, staggered, which have been betrayed, a thousand times, which are benefits there, many times, and yet are still able to give what they do not: the confidence and joy.

    I think of a man who wrote his biography and childhood which was a long misfortune, a descent into hell, humiliated, forgotten by his family, beaten by adults in foster care. Adult, yet he decided to do what we have not done for him: while his not forgive to exist, he forgives them, even if only to save himself and look to the future sincerely. And here he is now firmly in life lead those around him.

    I know of shopkeepers who really give their smile, I know children who offer me their help to carry my bag when it's too heavy, I know totally dependent persons in wheelchairs, who offer their joy, their laughter and talk calmly meetings they were once and missing them so much because they can’t share their love with them.

    I know a woman who speaks of his country as a country of "queens and kings," rich who have all power. It is one of the poorest in the world, but I am beginning to believe that there is very happy, because it is populated by the poor who share richer that finally we close our door key.

    I know a SINGLE MAN who knows intimately all those I have just mentioned, and all the others. This man, Jesus is the same poverty. He gives everything. It is the image of God who gives himself. THIS IS A BEGGAR REPRESENTATION, WE ARE THE BEGGARS.
    Matthew, I am writing this so we thought to continue to open our hearts to receive it, to listen to talk to us when we go wrong, but when we go good, think we can continue to live through his sacrifice.

    Yes, Jesus invites us to share, he invites us to experience the unique joy ! May we let ourselves be taught by him ...

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  5. Part 2
    Author : Maryse CANOVAS

    In a world in crisis, where “every man for himself” and “saves it can” become almost a common reflex, not we should remember the words of Jesus recorded by the Apostle Paul in Acts 20: 35 ?
    I sincerely believe that these words based real motivation in the relationship between humans and even beyond !
    The world is in the grip of a socio-economic context which sometimes breaks to give happiness and joy to receive. Yet our disposition of heart if we have faith should be consistent with the fact that GIVING IS A PRIVILEGE, because to be in this position MUST HAVE RECEIVED IN ADVANCE AND BE PREPARED TO TRANSMIT.
    Social contexts vary, and I think we can only give what we received; But we have all received, contrary to what is commonly believed. Would that life ! And also the ability to smile, to lend a hand to listen, to say a word about, someone to squeeze in his arms, to say a simple word love, to hug someone who lonely or depressed, to give some of his time to a patient dying ...
    I THINK SO GIVE A PROVISION OF HEART MORE THAN EQUIPMENT EXCHANGE.
    Therefore, we can all give and accept to receive return happiness! But it is still necessary to give, to have realized that we all possess valuable assets to the share. Then make us realize this can be analyzed vis-à-vis all our behavior and depth of the happiness of giving remaining within reach.
    However, some people do not like to receive, possibly for fear of being placed in front of the accomplished fact or situation vis-à-dependence of the other ... for fear of feeling indebted.

    However, when one considers what the apostle Paul expressed in the word of God in 1 Corinthians 4: 7, "What hast thou that thou didst not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? "It shows two things to me:
    * What have we all received, from the moment we have at least life ...
    * That the human being tends to trivialize what he received as to find that normal. Often we hear about it : "I didn’t ask to be born ! "(I find it heartbreaking to say that while others are struggling to stay alive and protect their being which are expensive ! I think this is André Malraux once said : "I want one, not even Jesus Christ was not dead to me"… Oh my God, it's pathetic !! So the passage of Matthew 7: 1 "Stop judging ... " is very difficult for me as facing such disdain I can’t help but do it ! :(
    Certainly, I think that to receive much like to give, you have to be in good spirits and an act of humility.

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  6. Part 3
    THE WAY OF A CHILD
    Author : Maryse CANOVAS

    If we accept that pleasure of giving brings joy in return, so that happiness is its intensity in action towards each other at various stages.
    So I think the happiness of giving is first in thought, then through what we mentally project this is to say, the will to act for the other. Then there was the choice of the gift and the wait to finally share.

    This increase in the happiness of giving reminds me of childhood, an age when we first decided to make a gesture of love, offer not even a little flower, one of our parents, or share a snack with another child.
    Yes, this evocation of childhood remember the rise of pleasure on the face of the other, which we tend to hand to make a donation, however small, the memory of his reactions, feelings and all that our heart has lived in the exchange ...

    Small shared pleasures that we learn in childhood are unique moments that may have an echo for the rest of our lives, and it is this that is beautiful!
    We should always keep a corner of our childhood in our heart, for stay of children can cause us to be humble and be spontaneous in our exchanges at all levels ... :)

    Yes, if all people could realize that we are never owners, but only residents of this beautiful blue planet, and thus, as resident children with their Father, possession is an illusion; Indeed, we know that the education of a child requires effort and sacrifice. But for years, the child, he does not conscious. Everything seems to be his due!
    However, fathers and mothers are usually always happy to see their children flourish because of the sacrifice they have shown. Instinctively any parent feels joy by giving the best even though it may cost him because he loves ... and the best reward he can receive is the radiant look his child !
    In this way, the loop is closed because the child returns to its parent the happiness he felt for him. This also means that keeping a child's heart, we fight selfishness or pride, we allow the other to act, and it implicitly signify that we realize that our happiness does not depend on us but it will be the echo of his intentions towards us.
    Because in some, alas, possession of property and human knowledge (sometimes even result in the long spiritual feel superior, leading by example that intellectually brilliant, to a need to dominate and enslave.
    The only face prophylaxis to "evil" might be to learn very early, childhood, humility. For, after all, the purpose of education, is it not to make us gradually more responsible?
    Jesus made it clear that in this regard the receipt actually comes responsibility. In the parable of the talents we read in Matthew 25: 14-30. So for the believer, the awareness that everything is a gift from God should mean to him that he has a responsibility to pass one's best to his neighbor with humility and respect, and that is that one condition he will learn the value of sharing and happiness that entails, because of the joy and pride for him Whom the Father, the "Great Owner" of this Earth.

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  7. Part 4
    FREE DONATION, IMMEDIATE SIMPLICITY AND FAITH
    Author: Maryse CANOVAS


    Happiness seems to be for everyone, but is it quantifiable? or quantifiable?

    Personally, I do not think we can really measure it, but that can only express (when we do fun or we help others) or feel each to varying degrees and personal.

    And sometimes we give something unknowingly simply working for pleasure; so it is an illuminated face of an infectious laugh, a thought, a gesture, a presence ... we can separate what we do what we have when we talk about the giving. In immediate simplicity, we share a moment of happiness, a way of being, and so we give and we get ... Nothing was calculated, nothing was planned ... It's total disinterest!
    And when that happiness is free, it is a state of life!

    [PARENTHESE:
    Although it is a state of life, perhaps the greatest illusion is to ignore the present moment (or never find a place where we are) and systematic thinking that happiness is elsewhere. Running away is sometimes flee himself and flee happiness that our immediate environment can offer us in return for fulfillment here and now.]

    We are children doing experiments of life ... forever and ever and learn from others as much as we teach them without knowing it ... life is like that, I think. As a child wants to do experiments to discover life, when the situation we face is happy, so are we, and it shines in us; a new scheme enrolled in us and creates what we are and not what we want to display ... (because happiness is simple and it is already in us) and from there derive our desires to reproduce this state of well -be, act on our environment ... .de give! Unconsciously we then restrict the speech limiting us and act spontaneously because the experience of fulfillment and our realization are the consequences of this inner work.


    So, we all have something to give for free, that this gift is material, spiritual, friendly, love, etc.
    But what is important? The shape of the gift or the way we do? If we try to motivate this gift, to get anything in return, is always a gift? ...

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  8. Part 5
    Author : Maryse CANOVAS


    Faith confirms that giving actually makes them happier than to receive. Indeed, the Bible tells us that God provides everything we need to live a good and productive life, since Jacques 1: 17 says that "every good gift and every perfect present" comes from him.

    In this, God gives us the perfect example, because we are indebted to him without cease, yet love it suited us ("God so loved the world that he gave his Son, his only, so that all those who put their trust in him shall not perish but have everlasting life "John 3: 16) and continues to meet our desires, which goes beyond our needs (" you open your hand and you fill the desires of all living "Psalm 145: 16)
    We are inclined, because of our nature an oversized ego that can prevent us from seeing things as a priority in a spiritual way, while we are yet so vulnerable and imperfect, so human !! But God wants to help us be happier, because he knows that we can never pay him what he gives us, but it teaches us to create, in the same way our own happiness.

    Thus, the gift motivated by love increases our faith and gives us a greater awareness and more determined to do well.

    If there is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20: 35) I hope I will be in the same format as you, Matthew, to demonstrate that it is sharing language, solidarity or more simply humanity. I agree with your sense as to what is perhaps above all to be good to yourself. It is to feel its usefulness, namely to be complementary to the other or others, and find its place.
    The Apostle Paul says: "Every man according as he purposes in his heart, so let him give; for God loves a cheerful giver "according to 2 Corinthians 9: 7.
    This presupposes a state of mind, if not happiness is absent. By his mental attitude, Jesus Christ showed us the way by supporting the weakest, the least favored of life. He told us that whenever we act in favor of the poor is like if we did for him (Matthew 25: 35-46)

    Apart from the Bible I find this very beautiful Chinese proverb :

    "Over the sage gives to others, the more he has for himself"
    Lao Tzu, Tao Book and virtue, 6th century. av. J. C.

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  9. CONCLUSION:
    Author: Maryse CANOVAS


    By your faith, Matthew, you were able to imitate Christ and demonstrate that you are less concerned received by that of giving, and better yet give yourself to him through whom are all things, our Lord.
    Faith could allow you not to resign from your human responsibility because you refer to someone who has been to the end of his mission: Jesus Christ! Indeed, he demonstrated that love is already a gift.
    Whether we are in a situation that allows us to give little or a lot, it does not matter because the important thing is the sincerity of our heart, because "God loves a cheerful giver. "(2 Corinthians 9: 7).

    So I hope to imitate you, and so imitate Christ, to overcome the material aspect and aim most of life.
    With a smile, a gesture, an empathetic attitude, we can give the best of ourselves, it is already showing love.
    That love can continue to grow in us, despite the fears, anxieties, may be the stress of everyday life ... prompt us to act with spontaneity, so that we get our turn to be the beneficiaries of this practice of good, for John reminds us:
    [...] "Little children, let us love, not in word or in tongue, but in deed and truth. "(1 John 3:18)

    Matthew, thank you so much !... This exchange proves that your wisdom and spiritual maturity predisposes you to demonstrate the love that grows within you and allows you to stay humble and generous.

    May God continue to bless you and your family ! :))

    Maryse

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