Today's Devotional Thought
September 12, 2011 by Rachel Piferi
It Is Not About What You Get
As I am sure many of you have, I have spent the weekend watching documentaries and television programs commemorating the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States. I have been overwhelmed with emotion as I listened and watched stories of loss, stories of friendship and love, and stories of American resilience and heroism.
As I was watching Sunday evening, I was reminded once again of the many individuals who showed great heroism on that day. From the firemen to the policemen to the military to the individuals in the Towers or on the airplanes or in the Pentagon, many showed the importance of giving of themselves to help others. And I was just overcome once again with the sentiment that life is not at all about what you get from others, it truly is all about what you give to others.
I think what I take away from 9-11 is simply that: how much people gave to others in the midst of such a horrible event. And what I take away from life is the same. It is truly all about what you give and it is not about what you get.
Your marriage.
Your friendships.
Your church.
Your job.
Your community.
Your ministry.
Most areas of our lives involve other people. And, most areas involve a give and take within these relationships. And as I have explored relationships (both academically and personally), I find that there are two ways that we can approach relationships within these areas of our life. You can either approach them in terms of what you get from them or you can approach them in terms of what you give to them. And friends, I have found a simple truth to continually emerge: if you only focus on what you get from those areas of life or relationships, then you will never experience true satisfaction or abundance. In fact, I would argue that if you are constantly focusing on what you are getting (or not getting) from these areas, then you will never be satisfied with them. But, if you focus on the ways that you can give to others in each one of these areas of life, I guarantee you that you will find greater life satisfaction. [I'm not going to bore you with the scientific research that shows just this, but trust me, there is some!]
Life is not all about what we get from others. At the end of our lives, we're going to be asked what we gave to them. Not what we got from them. Are you going to be able to get to the end of our life and say that you gave of yourself in each one of these areas? That you focused on the other's needs and how to selflessly give to them? Or are you going to get to the end of your life and realize that you only focused on what you received in these areas?
Friends, life is not all about what you get. It is about what you give. That is the lesson I take from 9-11 and the theme that I kept hearing through the many stories of that day.
Give of yourself today. Show the selfless love of Jesus to someone else today and truly experience how it is more blessed to give than to receive.
December