The Charitable Spirit: Good Deeds

Dear Maria,

we don't celebrate Thanksgiving day here. However, a similar festival called Harvest festival is marked in our culture. I find the spirit of thanks giving and harvest festival very similar. However, in the consumerist culture the true meaning of charity has been lost associated with this festival.

Thanks for sharing your perspective.

Cheers

Maria you have the sweetest and purest heart.. your love for your fellow man comes out in your beautiful words.. God Bless you

Faith is so right .. You are wonderful and a wonderful caring writer.

Debbie

My Dearest Maria,

Your precious, precious heart just shines through your lovely written words here. You are an amazing charitable woman and friend who gives tirelessly to others around you.

I know your heart aches for others . . .

I am one who is so very glad you are you!

Please know that you, your family and your dear sister-in-law have been in my thoughts and prayers.

Your words written from your heart here and that first video really have the tears flowing now.

Voted up ++++ and sharing

God bless. In His Love Always, Faith Reaper

It is a six month course and I am in month two. I still have not heard back from my mentor but you and your fellow 'perspectivers' are in my thoughts. I'll keep you posted. Thank you for being you.

I am truly honored at your request Maria but I have to check with HP to see if I am allowed to write hubs outside of the Apprentice Program while I am in the program. (This is month two with four more to go.)

It is amazing what a genuine, loving touch can achieve. And hearing is not the same thing as listening. A charitable spirit is one who “senses” with the mind as much as the heart. There is an intuitive center of calm wisdom and compassion that comes to the fore in very stressful situations. You have this rare gift. A beautiful hub, dear Maria, and one that is so timely. Thank you. And Merry Christmas! :-)

A wonderful hub! I agree with your wise insights. Even the simplest of deeds makes a huge difference. Well-done!

Merry Christmas to you & your family!

Thanks for SHARING. Beautiful & Interesting. Voted up

A beautiful piece Maria, moving and poignant . Sometimes all we can offer is a hand to hold, just being there for someone, giving them some of our strength. And we do find incredible strength in times of need, Reaching out and holding a hand can make such a difference.

You are a beautiful soul Maria and give of yourself willingly to help others. May you and yours be blessed this special time of year.

Great hub Maria, It's not hard to be kind touching someone's hand is the right and kind thing to do. Voted up

Awesome hub maria, to be kind but quiet about helping someone, or to be just there to hold their hand is I believe the most wonderful thing anybody can do, we don't need to yell it from the rafters, just quietly help, voted up and amazing, nell

If everyone were to take the service to others instead of the "I, me, myself" attitude, and realize that there is more than enough in this beautiful world to go round, this would be a better place to live. Thanks for this thought provoking read this evening! I share!

The higher evolved civilization and the people within it must be service-to-others vs service-to-self oriented. You have a need to understand the whole question and do so so very nicely Marie. That's more than an intuition too by the way. Merry Happy Christmas to you and all my friend!

Maria you make me want to sing all the Christmas carols one after another. So inspirational so wonderful. Great videos especially I love Lean on Me. Inspired to tears and really enjoyed this. May this holiday season bring the joy and spirit of Christmas to one and all and may loving hands reach out to those in need. Hugs. Passing this on.

This is a beautiful and poignant hub, carrying a powerful message. It's such a simple act of compassion to give someone a hug or hold someones hand. This touch is so healing for our soul - both for the giver and the receiver. Maria, you are an amazing woman. You are like this beautiful and spiritual angel, touching everyone you meet with your genuine kindness, wisdom and love. You give of yourself, without expecting anything in return, a beautiful trait. You are a true Blessing to everyone. Such a sweet Angel!

Blessings and a big hug to you from me.

Maria, your spirit shines so brightly. This is such a beautiful hub and appropriately "touched" me. Sometimes we forget the value of human touch but it is the most simple, loving act we have to give. I just love this hub and will try harder to apply its principles in my day to day life. Thank you for being YOU. Merry Christmas Maria.

A beautiful hub. I love the message here. Stop the blame game.. good one. I notice many people like to do this. Merry Christmas and all the best. doc

Thank you, Teresa, for your understanding. I can't stop apologizing - it is an innate trait, but I think I apologize for things that I do or fail to do rather than for how I feel. I can't help either.

And the improvement won't be an overnight arrangement - that is for sure. I don't have a viable plan yet. Believe me, stopping taking medication is enough of an act of courage. I don't yet know if I am capable of pulling this off. I had my good and solid reasons for doing so, but depression with a flavour is a tough thing. I am still hoping things will get better.

Well, until then, rest assured, my falling off the face of the earth does not translate into forgetting my friends. It only translates into lying low and inaction.

Take care,

Love and hugs,

Svetlana

Marie.. well blessings to you this is wonderful write..If all of us would just bound together and help at least one person.. how great this world would be..

This is just in time for Christmas

I love your heart.. it speaks to us all

sharing

Merry Christmas

Debbioe

Beautiful and inspiring piece with regards to Charity, Maria.

I wish Man would believe in charity year round and not just focus on the month of December. Imagine the number of lives, we could touch and change with this spirit...Amen!

voted up way way up!! and sharing it across

Hi Maria,

A touch, one heart speaking to another heart.

Voted up and away and sharing

Hugs, Sue

Hi my friend, such a beautifully written hub from a very beautiful and caring person, with a very awesome message all wrapped up within this well written hub to make it a very wonderful read and to help put things in prospective . Well done !

Vote up and more !!!

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas ! :-)

So beautiful, I am so in tune with you. Reach out and touch someone is perhaps the most beautiful lyric ever written. The time has never been more important. We must build a bridge of kindness that will reach across the world. Thank you my beautiful friend..

Dear Teresa:

This is a great hub, warm and touching. Indeed, the smallest act of kindness is that what we should aim for every day.

I am sorry for disappearing - I don't feel too hot at the moment and I feel sick of being sick and sick of apologizing.

I've read somewhere that people like me are in the perpetual state of grief of the lost former self or the self of what one could have been if not for the ....

I just crawl, day-by-day, hoping tomorrow will be better.

It is a peculiar thing with charity - it is easier to give than to take. Or maybe it is just the expression "I don't want to be a charity case"?

Anyway, I think your article has touched on the most important points.

Nicely done,

Love and hugs,

Svetlana

You always know how to bring out the humanity in us Mar. Your beautiful, poignant, humane take on any subject effortlessly glides into our souls and lifts us up to higher echelons of being. Away from the mediocrity and mean spiritedness, into love and charitable spirits. That is because, you, Maria, write as you think- warm, generous, humane, intelligent and inspiring. All I want for Christmas, is you. As my friend. I'm so proud. thank you.

Great writing and tips Maria. I think many of us are like you in turning off our emotions and just doing what needs to be done in stressful situations. I certainly have done that at times in my life.

Thank you for the great perspective, Mark

Wow! what an overwhelmingly beautiful hub! So much to think about! Thank you for sharing this all-important hub! Up+

Maria, I certainly relate to your sentiments of the role of a nurse. Therapeutic touch is so important. Sometimes we get patients, especially widows or widowers that haven't been hugged or touched in a long while. When you can take just those few moments to reach out it can change someones life, at least for that moment. This is a beautifully written and powerful hub. Thanks. Merry Christmas.

This is beautiful. I love the hand holding part because it is such a powerful show of friendship and care. Thanks for sharing.

Pushed all the buttons on this beautiful post. I love your encouragement and wisdom in this article. Yes, even heroes bleed! Love the video on this as well. You have touched me with this truth today. Hope many catch this so that change can happen for all of us going forward. Blessings.

A BEAUTIFUL GIFT FOR GOD By BERNARD LEVINE

When you sacrifice something

to give to the needy

When you teach a child how to pray

When you go out of your way

to help a stranger

It's a beautiful gift for God.

When you speak God's Words

and bring light on the world

When you heal the heart of the suffering

When you show kindness to those hurting

How wonderful and precious that moment is.

When you bring hope into someone's life

When you bless the poor with your love

When you make God your number 1

You bring joy into heaven.

© Bernard Levine

I think to gracefully live with a purpose is my 2013 perspective in life, in line with my very recent hub (Aging Graciously). I am tempted to join...depending on my flight schedules. However, this hub is very encouraging.

I commend you on this very soulful, touching and caring hub Maria. May you continue to be blessed and be a blessing to others.

Voted up and useful and will be passing along.

Love from the sky~

A beautiful message for this beautiful season! May a charitable spirit enable us to generously share with others now and always!

Amen MM, Amen. It doesn't take much to be charitable and do a good deed as long as they come from the heart. In my opinion the best deeds are unspoken ones. One shouldn't need to announce what they've done nor should they expect a pat on the back. It doesn't need to be shouted from the rooftops, just do it. It's that simple. Awesome hub!

You, my dear friend, are a gift! Your love and compassion shine through in everything you do and this hub is further proof! I follow your philosphys because that is who I am..clam when needed...I'll fall apart later. Touching and holding hands is the best way to convey feeling and support. This was a totally awesome read!

Voted up, useful, awesome, and interesting. Shared too.

P.S If I wasn't a new apprentice I would have taken you up on your offer to join you wonderful writers!!!

Hello Maria. This is a powerful Perspective. Even perspective. I am reminded of Clark Kent and Superman. Mild mannered Clark Kent, just a meek ordinary guy, but when need be he draws on incredible strength. As life progresses, we are each called on and are expected to display incredible strength. Your writing here reminded me of this in a very clear and precise way.

Very beautiful hub. It's the everyday things that we do for each other, a touch, hug, smile or just listening that is important too.

Thanks for the reminder.

This is a wonderful hub Maria and I cannot believe it took me till last Thursday before I joined Billy's wonderful cause.

I vote up ,across and share all around. Here's to so many more for us both to share on here.

Have a great weekend.

Eddy.

I only have time for a very few comments today, but yours needs to be one of them. This is a beautiful message. I have always been a person that you would want around during a moment of crisis. Like you, I call on my own composure and strength during times of chaos; I believe that gives support to others, so I shut off my emotions at those times. It is a gift, and I'm sure you consider it the same.

Thank you for this powerful message! Blessings and hugs to you, today and always.

bill

This is a touching hub about the charitable spirit, emphasized with beautiful songs. So true: Therapeutic and loving touch is more important than ever for the person in need of charity. So often holding someone's hand is ALL I can give in specific circumstances.

Marcoujor, you are one of a handful of people with a true and honest charitable spirit. Even online you never miss an opportunity to give of yourself to someone in need of kindness and charity in the form of support, encouragement and advice. Thank you for being always there for me, giving of yourself in spite of all your responsibilities.

Maria, touch is so important. A hug can ease the pain or let it flow until the pain subsides. This is a very touching hub (no pun intended!). Once again you have let your kind heart flow onto these pages.

Merry Christmas my dear friend!

Right off the bat you hit the nail on the head with your phrase, "situationally charitable" - that is the pathway to evil.