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Linking with Poets United for Poetry Pantry 297 posted by Mary
Love cures people—both the ones who give it and the ones who receive it.
~Karl Menninger
It is in the giving of true love and refuge
that we receive it at its softest core.
It folds back like a large soft blanket
and warms the original giver once more.
You cannot truly give it and not in turn
truly reap it's truest gift
for giving and receiving in some ways
are strongly connected at the hip.
Giving is receiving and receiving is giving....that is how it seems it can be sometimes to me. When we learn to give graciously and we learn to receive graciously; we learn something about true gifts and giving back and how they are in so many ways connected. If you know anyone that is deeply involved in the process of recovery of AA, CR, or NA, then you have seen someone that is in the process of consistently giving back to others. The wonderful truth of it is this: the act of giving of oneself is a very rewarding thing. Having said that, I would like to share a story from when I was 11 years old:
My father had just married my new step mother, and we were driving home from a long day out. It was dark and I was very tired dozing off in the car in between them in the front seat. My step mother graciously laid my head upon her lap so that I could rest for the remainder of the trip. I still member it like it was yesterday. I held my head slightly hovered at her lap, and never truly let my head rest upon her legs. Looking back, I am not sure why I could not relax and receive her gift of comfort. It was a sweet gesture that no one else had ever offered before, and I guess I just did not know how to receive it completely. I realize now, that it was a gracious gift that I missed out on affecting her as well as me, and it is a good example of how giving and receiving are truly connected at the hip.
