Spirit of the Gift

I don’t know about you, but on the occasional Christmas or birthday I would receive a gift that not even close to what I wanted. For example a pair of knitted socks that I wouldn’t be caught dead in them from a distance aunt. My mother would admonish me before I said something tacky with a, “Webb, remember the spirit in which it was given.” As life has gone on for me I’ve learned to appreciate the spirit more and more.

 

Henry Thoreau asks: “Did you ever hear of a man who had striven all his life faithfully and singly toward an object and in no manner obtained it? If a man constantly aspires, is he not elevated? Did ever a man try heroism, magnanimity, truth, sincerity, and find there was no advantage in them? That it was a vain endeavor?

 

Do right, and God will reward you with the power to do more. Give, and God’s reward will be the spirit of giving more. Love, and God will pay with the capacity for more Love.

Share this post

• 
• 
• 
• 

About the author

Webb Hubbell is the former Associate Attorney General of The United States. His novels, When Men Betray, Ginger Snaps, A Game of Inches, The Eighteenth Green, and The East End are published by Beaufort Books and are available online or at your local bookstore. When Men Betray won one of the IndieFab awards for best novel in 2014. Ginger Snaps and The Eighteenth Green won the IPPY Awards Gold Medal for best suspense/thriller. His latest, “Light of Day” will be on the bookstands soon.