So what does it mean to give?<\/p>\n

“Give of yourself.” “Give your heart to…” Give my all.” Huh? Give of myself?<\/p>\n

Should I rip out pieces of myself literally, leaving dripping messes everywhere I go? Or should I metaphorically give pieces of my soul…my lifeblood, my spirit, to God and to others? (Well duh. Don’t answer that question, but here’s the stumper I want to pose):<\/p>\n

When you give of yourself, do you hold back? Do you try to please others while still holding back what you feel is essential, like your feelings or your thoughts or your commitments? Doesn’t this make you a sinner, when you’re telling God or anyone else that you’re “Giving your all”?<\/p>\n

Here’s a challenge: Next time you have to give, don’t hold anything back. Give it all, give it willingly, and don’t expect anything back. Think of it as a permanent loan. A indefinitely-borrowed item.<\/p>\n

Or, think of it as a gift.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So what does it mean to give? “Give of yourself.” “Give your heart to…” Give my all.” Huh? Give of myself?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[908],"tags":[138,356,357,361,733],"class_list":["post-787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-journal","tag-challenge","tag-give","tag-giving","tag-god","tag-selfless"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n