"Don't lend your service; give your service."

- Justin Miller Cole

There were thousands of lights all around.  The air was cold so I was especially happy to have a daughter on each arm as we walked through the town square.  There were so many people.  Everywhere we turned there were faces; smiling faces.

Then, in an instant, I was face to face with one of the strangers.  Just before our noses were about to collide I saw the gleam of his smile and heard, "Merry Christmas!"

"Yes," I thought.  "It's still cold outside.  I can see the fog of my breath lofting up through the surrounding lights.  But, my heart is much warmer now."  It was enjoyable to be with people who were not just trying to purchase a memorable holiday season.  They were giving a memorable holiday season from their heart.

My friend Justin Miller Cole once said, "Don't lend your service; give your service."

As soon as he said it, I tilted my head to the right and said, "That's one of the most profound things I've ever heard!"

There is a difference between giving for the sole purpose of getting something in return and the act of giving a heart-felt gift.  There is a difference between giving because of a perceived obligation and giving freely from the heart.  The challenge for each one of us is to take a long, deep look into our heart and determine what our true motives are.

When we lend something we expect to get it back.  Giving a gift means we make an offering without any expectation; we have no desire to receive anything in return.  It is the most meaningful form of giving.  There is nothing more powerful than freedom of choice.

Freedom of choice also means freedom of external expectation.  A person who is truly free understands that all people are free to do as they will.  I learned this truth while sitting at the feet of a former prisoner of war.  He said, "My captors took everything from me; my clothes, food, friends, family, warmth, and communication, but they could never take my freedom to choose!  They could never take my will unless I chose to give it to them."

A gift from the heart, given freely, is a powerful and wonderful tool.  I hope you'll make a choice to be a giver from the heart.  The twinkling lights of this season and those who were admiring them with me reminded me of this. 

Never a lender be; give from your heart without expectation.  It will change your life as well as the world.