How giving really is living

“I think many times we go through life thinking about ourselves and what we need and what we want. But the truth is sometimes we need to look outside of ourselves. I think maybe the very thing we need is to give.”

- Izzy Lala

Yesterday I was watching a YouTube video from a popular motivational speaker. What he said really spoke to me. He was telling a story about a time he was broke financially and decided to give his last bit of money to a boy and his mother. He started to tear up and it made me do the same.

He ended by saying that “living is giving.” I found those short words to be so profound. I think many times we go through life thinking about ourselves and what we need and what we want. But the truth is sometimes we need to look outside of ourselves. I think maybe the very thing we need is to give.

There’s something about giving that gives you joy. Whenever I have given something, I have felt this joy. I guess what the bible says about giving really is true -that it is better to give than to receive. 

When I was younger, I remember my family not having a lot of money. Christmas was right around the corner, and we knew my mom didn’t have any money for presents. Fortunately for us kids, the church that we were going to knew that too. That Christmas we woke up to more gifts than we had ever had. I remember being really happy along with my siblings. Thinking back about it, it was that act of kindness in my childhood that I remember most to this day.

It was a testament to what the action of giving can do. It can touch hearts. I know because it touched mine.

Giving doesn’t just benefit the receiver, it benefits the giver too. Maybe giving really is living. Maybe that’s how you really experience what life’s all about.

What do you think? How has giving or someone giving to you helped/changed you?

Let me know in the comments!