~My Great Grandmother & Michael Landon taught me Personal Sacrifice~

Great Grandmother

My thin, gray-haired great-grandmother taught me much about the art of giving. One day while I was visiting her, I noticed that she took a dime and inserted it into a brochure along with many other coins. I asked her what she was saving for, and she said she was going to give the packet of coins to the March of Dimes soon. Each dime represented her sacrificing a loaf of bread from her diet for one week. She felt that giving a dollar to the charity was worthwhile, so she went without bread for ten weeks.

I think of my grandmother's personal sacrifice, and I relate that to the world around me where almost everyone will contribute a dollar for a birthday present for a member of the office without giving the matter a second thought.

Maybe most of us don't take our giving quite so seriously, but the effect is exactly the same, whether we realize it or not. Whenever we give something, we have less. If we found ourselves suddenly thrown out of work, the box of old clothing we gave away a week ago would take on a new significance. The dollar we tossed into the kitty at the office might have been used for the purchase of bread and milk. Suddenly, we might find ourselves receiving instead of giving.

We live in hard times, unlike anything I have ever seen. Many are in dire need. Give generously when you can.

Read more on the miracle of "Giving."