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Giving.
"It is more blessed to give, than to receive." I'm pretty sure many people have heard of this quote being said or quoted by someone else before. But I never really agreed to it until I really experienced it. Right now, I cannot agree more. Probably some people have heard of this before already because I shared it during cell group meeting last week, but nevertheless I'm still going to share it here. I still remember 2 weeks ago during cell group meeting, Jiayong shared about being eternity-minded. And then he asked us a question: What would you do if you know that Jesus is coming back in 7 days? Most of my cell group members answered that they want to reach out to the lost and everything, but I said "I want to make people happy." Honestly, I don't know what was going on in my head at that moment, I didn't want to say an answer that just sounds 'correct' if you know what I mean. Because what I really want is to make people happy, especially people around me. To see them smile. Then few days after that cg meeting, there came not one, but three incidents that really make me conclude that to make people happy, is to really just GIVE. Incident #1: The group leaders and assistant group leaders were gathering this day to paint a flag for the upcoming Camp OCTRIS. Then came this guy holding a file and keychains and he explained that he is an ex-convict. Of course, most of us know what he is going to do next.. Yeap, he asked us to buy keychains from him. Usually, I would just reject them because honestly $10 for keychain is a little too expensive. But then as a group, we all decided to give $1 each and it all adds up to $10 (just nice there were 10 people there then) and we all got a keychain. The guy initially tried to ask us to give more, but I guess in the end he realized that it is good enough that we got a keychain from him. So he just thanked us and walked away. I didn't get to keep the keychain, but I felt good. Even if it is the $1. Nobody really knows where the money goes to, but I just hope that the money will really end up in good hands. Incident #2: I was out with my group leader, Guanghui, and we were hunting for stuff for the camp. We went to Pennisula Plaza to look for whatever that we wanted.. But we could not get it at a specific date and price we wanted, so we planned to go to Orchard instead. For all of you who don't know where Pennisula Plaza is, it is located near City Hall. So we walked back to the MRT station to take train to Orchard. But on the way there, this lady approached us and asked for directions to 四马路 aka Bugis. We tried to point out the MRT station to her but she don't really understand. We also wanted to walk to the MRT station together with her but we realized that Orchard and Bugis are on two different MRT line. So Guanghui offered to send her to the busstop where I say that there is a direct bus to Bugis and also to Orchard for us. In the end both of us decided to just go all the way to Bugis with that lady and also try our luck with what we want to find at Bugis. In the end, when we finally reach Bugis, the lady really thanked us and best of all, we also manage to find what we want at Bugis! :D Incident #3: On the same day as incident #2, there came another chance. So Guanghui and I were walking along bugis junction and this girl came up to us. Most of the time, I won't really care much about them because it seems like what they are doing is their job or something. This girl, just any other normal teenage girl came to us and asked us for donation for children with needs. She say that it was a free amount giving but a $10 would be best. I didn't want to give $10, so I just gave $2. But instead, Guanghui took my $2 and gave a $10 not to her instead. I mean his actions really make me like 'WE NEED MORE PEOPLE LIKE THIS'.. He really went the extra mile to give, and we are not very rich people either. These 3 incidents, in ONE week. Really dawned on me that when you give, you receive something too. A genuine 'Thank You', a smile. Who knows what kind of difference you can make to other's lives. And I learnt that when you give, it is not only money, you can always give your time, your effort. And to a friend in need of a listening ear, your heart and presence. Of course when you give, also give cheerfully for God loves a cheerful giver. There are many ways to make people happy, and sometimes you don't even need to spend a single cent on it. But I believe that to make people happy, you must always know what they NEED and WANT. Just like what we always say in church 'find a need and meet it', I think this statement also applies to how to make people happy. Meet the need, go the extra mile and create a smile on people's face! |