A Good Thought

"Great gift-giving involves three things: you feel what the other feels, you give freely, and you count sacrifice a bargain. . . .

"It will take some practice, more than one holiday, to learn how to be touched by what's inside others. And giving freely and counting sacrifice as joy will take a while. But we could at least start this Christmas being a good receiver. We have the power to make others great gift-givers by what we notice. We can make any gift better by what we choose to see--and we can, by failing to notice, make any gift a failure. Gift giving takes a giver and a receiver. I hope we use this theory not to criticize the gifts and giving that come our way this year, but to see how often our hearts are understood and how often gifts are given joyfully, even with sacrifice."
Topics: Christmas,
gratitude
(Henry B. Eyring, "Giving with Joy," Liahona, Dec. 1996, 12)