Outer Warmth/Inner Warmth

Brrrr… cold outside this time of year.  There’s lots of just surviving going on.  The cold is a great reminder to help us appreciate the comfort and predictability of a warm home and loved ones.  What a blessing!  We should never take these things for granted.

We humans can’t solve everyone’s problems, but we can all help, sometimes in simple ways.

On a continuum of a giver’s ability, there are many things people can do:

It can start with a smile- that universal language even babies do naturally.    A smile benefits the giver and the receiver.   Smiles with kindness can go a long way to warm another’s heart.  Did you ever have an experience in life where you just needed some understanding or help and someone offered that kindness to you because they wanted to?  We don’t forget those times, that light in the darkness.

Giving service – Some people can give service with prayers, or with direct one-on-one help, and some people can give service by sharing of their talents, or their good fortune, or their means.  Helping others is one of the best ways that will benefit the receivers and the givers.  Service is a way to communicate to others that they have innate value.

Teaching children service – is something that is done over time.  Children first must witness and learn through outer rewards before they can comprehend the inner rewards.  A child that can give away something that he or she has made to someone who genuinely needs it, and then sees the receiver’s response is taking a first step to understanding inner warmth.

Giving without seeing the outcome of the gift is a lesson that comes through maturity and practice.   It’s a higher plane of giving.  Many of us grown-ups are still working on this principle.  It is a worthwhile goal.  It must have a lot to do with Inner Warmth.

 post by Nancy W., Food and Care Coalition staff