We played the music but you didn't dance. We sang the dirges but you did not weep. We did so much for you but you said nothing! We gave you all this but you did nothing with it all.
The pride of being the one giving, the one doing, the one bestowing... it can actually cancel all merit. In some cases it may backfire as well. Perhaps the one you were playing music for was deaf and did not really know what you were doing. Perhaps the one you sang the dirges to, was returning home after a very glorious and joyful day. Perhaps the one you did so much for, needed something totally different than all the great things you did, something trivial that you did not consider as required by him. Perhaps the one you gave so much of material things after all needed just a few minutes of your time daily. Of course, there is the question of holding the other accountable to what he or she has been blessed with. But should I be the one to whom they should be accountable to?
Charity does take a big toll on the one engaging in it. It demands more than being generous. It demands being able to give without asking anything in return. It involves not claiming ourselves to be the 'saviour' - not with the ones being helped out, not to others, not even within/for ourselves. Most of all, it involves genuinely being concerned for the other - it involves love.
The pride of being the one giving, the one doing, the one bestowing... it can actually cancel all merit. In some cases it may backfire as well. Perhaps the one you were playing music for was deaf and did not really know what you were doing. Perhaps the one you sang the dirges to, was returning home after a very glorious and joyful day. Perhaps the one you did so much for, needed something totally different than all the great things you did, something trivial that you did not consider as required by him. Perhaps the one you gave so much of material things after all needed just a few minutes of your time daily. Of course, there is the question of holding the other accountable to what he or she has been blessed with. But should I be the one to whom they should be accountable to?
Charity does take a big toll on the one engaging in it. It demands more than being generous. It demands being able to give without asking anything in return. It involves not claiming ourselves to be the 'saviour' - not with the ones being helped out, not to others, not even within/for ourselves. Most of all, it involves genuinely being concerned for the other - it involves love.
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