To Give and Receive

 

In the world of Today we exchange goods and services, make deals, and agreements. We operate within the paradigm of contractual relationships because that’s all we know. The “give and take” paradigm inundated with expectations and entitlement is our “given”.

Receiving

But truthfully, all things worth getting can be only received, not taken. Try extricating a splash of pink and yellows from the sunrise to take it home, a song from a robin, a love from a child. Better yet, demand for an instant outpouring of the Holy Ghost or for an immediate endowment  of blessings. All are only received…

So it is on the telestial market of relationships: some might be taken, but not necessarily received. Or perhaps the other way around - received without the claims of family belonging.

To receive is to embrace one as is, perfection and brokenness, the joy and the heartache. It is to see into the Eternal Essence of another, past telestial names and labelling experiences. It is to pierce into the power of their Light and graciously overlook the temporal limitations, the soon to be overcome frailties and insecurities…To receive is to recognize Self in the Other.

Struggling to break out of the boxes of our perceived limitations, like a stream of Light through a prism, we recognize a need to be replenished. But what truly replenishes isn’t the taking,but receiving. And what multiplies isn’t retaining, but giving.

Giving

Conditioned to think that giving is only possible when predicated on taking, we look at our bank accounts, at the favourable or not so favourable algorithms of ones and zeros, and make an obvious conclusion, that we have nothing to give. 

To say that one has “nothing to give” is to shut off the flow of Abundance into one’s life. Everyone is capable of giving Love, Kindness or any other form of goodwill.  More often than not the most powerful giving has no price tag attached. And the best Givers known in history had next to nothing in the material.

What is the cost of Light, Truth, Intelligence, Care, Concern? We discount the power of those and overlook the bountiful resources of time, relationships, energy, creativity, vision and faith, all the while dwelling in their compelling Abundance and ignorantly, ruthlessly undermining it. 

To say “we have not” is to say that we have received, and we have enough. For when we are incapable of giving we are also proclaiming that we can no longer receive. It is to say that we have enough “for us”, but not “for them”. Of course, any student of scripture will recognize the sorry condition of any variation of “ having enough”( 2 Nephi 29:3)...

We withhold what we perceive as “ours” to preserve what we have. Yet preserves, as any maker of jam can attest, don’t have an infinite shelf life and are at their best before they make it into the jar.Things “well-preserved'' are often difficult to enjoy. After all, who can enjoy the deadly breath of a mummy, freshly out of sarcophagus?

Giving is utterly edifying when it intentionally steps outside of the “give and take” paradigm.It stands in the terra incognita of its I AM, asking for no permission to be there. It comes to complete the invisible "give and receive" cycle, leaving us astounded at the unexpected flow of Grace and Generosity perceived as undeserved, coming at us out of “nowhere “… We think that we are reaping what we have not sown. Not so...For sowing is ever ongoing and all things intangible in very real, tangible ways take on physical form.

True giving doesn’t need to be seen; it unfolds like Springtime, dressing the Earth in the bridal lace of blossoms. Spectators of God’s Love and Abundance are welcome, but not necessary for the ongoing flow of Creation. The “give and take” Ego keeps track and waits for recognition and thank you notes. “See if you have enough room to receive'' is the only unspoken invitation of genuine giving.

Interdependence

While cracking the codes of the Infinite, we still find ourselves in the world of the Finite. True, the Head is in charge of the Body as a whole, it ensures that all members are nurtured, healthy and cared for.But though it might seem that the Head is sovereign enough to act on its own, that is hardly the case. The legs and the toes might feel insignificant, too remote from the lofty thinkings, but they alone can alleviate the Heads vertigo by providing the much needed balance, to stop it from spinning. And only fingers can allow for the  overdue nourishment that abates the low blood-sugar headache. The body of Christ has no extremeties.One needs All. And All need each One.

The Law Action invites us into the uncomfortable space of transformative internal change. It beckons us into the New, patiently waiting for us to let go of the transactional Old. It dares us to dream, to believe, to vulnerably receive and confidently give.

Like bashful toddlers we shy away from the teeter totter of interdependence, favouring our solo swings, overlooking that there are no solos  in the intricate chorus of the Omniverse. And every swing is but a ball in the perpetual Newton's Cradle.

Overcoming telestial paradigms is a challenge. And Each needs to hold space for the Other, until All can recognize that taking is but a poor caricature of receiving and can unleash the power to gratefully Give…and graciously Receive!