We sing the song of existence through our giving and receiving.  Up and down the melody goes… It is impossible to exist in this world without all manner of things coming and going. Likewise, it is impossible we will not sometimes be giving, and sometimes receiving. How could it possibly be otherwise? There is certainly no shame in either, nor doubt that each must occur.

Perhaps we can agree… you cannot give anything away unless first you have it.

And in this world, it is most often understood that by giving it away, you are now without. Thus, giving is often conceived as a path to loss, to sacrifice; perhaps to suffering.  The one who gives, then, is either foolish or gives such a trifle the loss hardly matters at all. Or… they do not really give, but simply opt to trade, seeking an immediate replacement of their loss, be this subtle and unspoken or overt.

It is easy to see this with material things. It is also easy to see how often we try to store up as much as possible against our loss; fearfully, jealously, desperately.

This is typically seen as true of the non-material things as well. These, too, cannot be given unless first you have them. And like before, they may be guarded jealously. They may be hoarded and kept close, in fear of running out.

And from the perspective of our separate and worldly small selves, this makes a certain sense. But there is another melody we all know, harmonized atop the first, that sings of an experience quite opposite to this…

We can easily begin to hear and see it when we offer someone else a thought; an idea… And when we do, is it somehow lessened within? Clearly no. Rather, as we share with others, not only do we keep it for ourselves, it is given life and strengthened in us. As we share it more, it grows greater still. Giving it away has actually increased our store! As it is shared and shared again it can even grow in strength and power well beyond our small selves, until the world itself is changed thereby.

If we simply exchanged a thing for something else, we haven’t increased our store at all, but merely kept the status quo.

But if we have given something away, and yet find that we have more… then did we not receive?

Giving is receiving.

Receiving proves our giving.  It is in receiving that you can know you gave.

We can still agree one cannot give what one does not have, and that it is impossible to exist at all without regular giving and receiving. But when it’s seen that receiving proves our gift and giving guarantees receiving, it begins to dawn… we have not given something ephemeral, nor only recently acquired and briefly possessed.  We have given from a store we cannot possibly be without.  We have given not just from what we have, but from what we are.

How could the giving-that-is-receiving-that-is-giving-that-is-receiving possibly have an ending?  Thus, it must be outside of time. And given that this universe is ruled by time, this endlessness must then be outside this universe as well. It must be of a different source.

That this seems to contradict the usual “rules” of giving and receiving on this worldly plane, simply reveals what must then be from a Source not of this plane, though it be regularly experienced here.

And how could you know or experience this at all unless what you are is of that Source as well?

Everyone here has felt bereft, at times. Exhausted and despairing. And this would be a sign of having sought to give, or receive, or make exchange from some other source. Even in seeking an “equal” exchange, erroneously believing betterment lies in its zero-sum game, we feel a subtle loss as the faint, distant notes of that other Source remind us of the overflowing, ever increasing fullness we know to be our true inheritance.

It calls and calls, forever beckoning; notes rising to a glorious symphony as we turn increasingly to it. And while we go through our day, attending to what it brings, may we keep our ear tilted inward toward its melody while we play our part in the giving and receiving and the giving and receiving until the symphony is all we hear.

Peace be wit’chu!

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