"Give" and "Receive" Are Action Words

Well, of course "give" and "receive" are action words. They are verbs, the parts of speech that describe actions. Some actions have things called objects; you read the book, you write the letter, you wash your car. Other actions do not; the sun shines, the dog barks, the rain falls.

But in this post, think of "give" and "receive" as special action words. With capital letters.

I have a friend who is fighting a brain tumor. She's a dear person and a spiritual sister to me. She used to be a nurse, but she is no longer able to work. One of her greatest joys is to give to others. That is the urge that sent her to nurse's training in the first place.

So what do you do, when you itch to give, and you can no longer work as a nurse? You give what you can, where you can, and to whomever is there.


She and I visited the local supermarket briefly last Sunday, after church. We shared the same shopping cart. I got a couple of odds and ends I would need to see me through the week. She was on her way to her mother's place and was looking for some things to take to her, foods the elderly lady would like to eat.

Then my friend's urge to Give hit. "Do you need potato chips?" I had plenty of potato chips at home.

"How about pizza? Do you like pizza?" I do, and again, I had a few in my icebox.

"Hey, do you like ice cream?" Well, of course I do, but I don't eat a lot of it in the winter. And in the summer, I am cautious about keeping it around because I can't stay out of it. And I am trying to control my weight. So I said I do like ice cream, but it's too cold to eat it now.

I can't recall the entire conversation in all its glory and magnificence, but my friend wound up buying two packs of ice cream sandwiches, each a different variety, to take to her mother's. And I agreed to take a few of the sandwiches on to my own place from her mother's. (Her mother and I live in the same apartment house.)

I wound up with three ice cream sandwiches. And yes, I have already eaten one of them and have promised myself I will eat the others only on weekends. (Come on, weekend!) I honestly would have preferred not to take them, to wait until warmer weather, but as surely as they had been spoken to me, words came into my head: "She wants to do this. Let her."

At that point, she Gave and I Received. She Gave out of her urge to share with others, and I Received out of the urge to help her Give.

And when you get right down to it, you can't Give unless there is someone to Receive.

Someone said to me once, speaking of her own difficulty in receiving the gifts of others, that we are taught by Jesus (and many other teachers as well) to give to others. And that it is an act of love and generosity on our part to receive, so that the person who needs to give can do so. Every time my friend with the brain tumor wants to Give me something, I remember what that other person said, and I have to admit I have pride and the desire to be in control. That makes it hard, sometimes, to accept things from others.

So when you accept gifts in spite of pride, or the desire to control, or any other problem you might have with other people giving you stuff, you swallow all that, you understand the other's need to share, and you Receive.

I really did enjoy that ice cream sandwich. And I look foward to eating the others!