Give Gratuitously

Give Gratuitously by HENRY J.M. NOUWEN

Your love, insofar as it is from God, is permanent. You can claim the permanence of your love as a gift from God. And you can give that permanent love to others. When others stop loving you, you do not have to stop loving them. On a human level, changes might be necessary, but on the level of the divine, you can remain faithful to your love.

One day you will be free to give gratuitous love, a love that does not ask for anything in return. One day also you will be free to receive gratuitous love. Often love is offered to you, but you do not recognize it. You discard it because you are fixed on receiving it from the same person to whom you gave it.

The great paradox of love is that precisely when you have claimed yourself as God's beloved child, have set boundaries to your love, and thus contained your needs, you begin to grow into the freedom to give gratuitously.

如果有一天，你懂得自在地付出無私的愛，完全不求回報；那你也可以自在地接受那無私的愛，其實我們一直收到這樣的愛，只是我們不懂很簡單的答案原來就在我們身邊。

中國的古人早該說「已若所欲，多施於人」!