I Have Learned…
that Giving Brings Happiness
A few years ago, our daughter Kaya, who was 7 at the time, won a coloring contest for which she received a $25.00 gift certificate. When we arrived at the department store to go on her “Shopping Spree,” she immediately headed for the coloring books and crayons. After agonizing over the selection (a lesson in patience for Mommy) she finally chose one and then spent a good deal of time choosing the perfect box of crayons. Then we headed down another aisle in search of a toy to go with the color book. This task taken care, of Kaya turned and asked me to help her add up her choices to see how much she had left over so that she could find something she wanted.
Surprised at the way she worded this, I asked, “What do you mean? Don’t you want any of these things that we just spent an hour choosing?”
She very patiently explained, “No, Mommy, these are for Kalina.”
As if I shouldn’t have even needed to ask such a silly question! Kalina, her 4-year-old sister, had not won any contests that year, and it was simply a given that Kaya would choose something for her sister before using the leftover money for herself.
Unselfish love between sisters is a wonderful, heartwarming thing!
—OR, United States
I remember that sometimes there was one cookie on the table. And me and my sister wanted it. I said, “You can have it.” And my sister said, “You can have it.” And so it went on.
Then, after awhile, we said, “We can split it in half.” And so we did that, and we each got a half of it. It gave me a blessing because I shared with my sister.
—Age 6, OR, United States
How I learned to Give Myself
One day a little boy came over with his mom and dad. He didn’t have any sisters or brothers. I wasn’t very excited about him coming, because he was loud and liked to play with cars. (It was about the only thing he liked to do.)
I played with him a while and then left my brother to play with him. My brother soon tired of playing with him and begged me to come and play with them. (I did not want to go be with them!) But I knew that God would play with him, and that he was an only child and didn’t have many other children to play with. So I went and played with them. God helped me enjoy playing with him. And I was very happy and blessed.
—Age 12, Yemen
One day I went outside to pick flowers for the table. I decorated them, and then I put them on the table. Mommy felt nice that I brought flowers in the room. I was blessed from being in nature.
One day Mommy told Caroline or me to mop the hall, but none of us wanted to do it. Finally, after arguing for a long time, I said I would do it. I got a blessing out of doing the work. In the end, Caroline helped with it!
—Age 9, Yemen