Giving (Part 1) Cookie Thief

Extracts from "FINANCIAL EXCELLENCE" by Dr Phil Pringle

Giving is completely relinquishing control of something of yours into the control of another person to do with as he pleases. True wealth is not measured by what people have but by what they give in proportion to what they have. Loaning to someone is not giving.

The attitude of giving - generous spirit
To be giving or generous is to have a joyful spirit.
Giving means being willing and cheerful when we release something of ours into the ownership of another.

Charles Swindoll "A happy spirit takes the grind out of giving. The grease of gusto frees the gears of generousity"

"THE COOKIE THIEF"

A woman was waiting at an airport one night with several long hours before her flight.
She hunted for a book in the airport shop, bought a bag of cookies and found a place tgo drop.

She was engrossed in her book, but happened to see, that the man beside her, as bold as could be, grabbed a cookie or two from the bag between, which she tried to ignore to avoid a scene.

She read, munched cookies, and watched the clock, as the gutsy "cookie thief" diminished her stock. She was getting irritated as the minutes ticked by, thinking , "If I weren't so nice, I'd blacken his eye!"

With each cookie she took, he took one too.
When only one was left, she wondered what he'd do.
With a smile on his face and a nervous laugh he took the last cookie and broke it in half.

He offered her half, as he ate the other. She snatched it from him and thought "Oh brother, this guy has some nerve, and he's also rude. Why, he didnt even show any gratitude!"

She had never known when she had been so galled, and sighed with relief when her flight was called. She gathered her belongings and headed for the gate, refusing to look back at the "thieving ingrate."

She boarded the plane and sank in her seat, then sought her book, which was almost complete. As she reached in her baggage, she gasped with surprise : There was her bag of cookies in front of her eyes!

"If mine are here," she moaned with despair, "then the others were his, and he tried to share!" Too late to apologise, she realised with grief, that she was the rude one, the ingrate, the thief.