United Blood Services used to be one of our next-door neighbors at The
First, let’s talk about blood donation, a topic that would have great value even if we weren’t drawing larger lessons from the process. After all, 8 out of 10 of us will use blood before the age of 72. And, you can save a life every 8 weeks by donating blood.
Were you aware of these facts?
~ Donating blood reduces the bad cholesterol in your blood stream.
~ Giving blood reduces excess iron in the blood stream.
~ Donating blood on a regular basis helps to regulate high blood pressure by acting as a natural blood thinner.
~ Recent studies show that donating blood on a regular basis will reduce your risk of a heart attack by 88 percent.
~ When you give blood, the volume of blood in your body is replaced within a few hours.
How can this be? How can giving something away result in the strengthening and the increasing of what you have? While at first glance this may seem strange, it is not. In fact, it is a natural illustration of a spiritual principle.
Briefly stated, the principle is this:
When you make a habit of giving, you’ll have all you ever need.
Many have never discovered this secret. In fact, they believe and practice the opposite. Grab all you can. Step on others to do it. Cook the books to put money in your pocket, no matter now many innocent people it hurts. Always be on the lookout for an angle. Sense the weaknesses in others so that you can exploit them. Hoard what you have. It’s all about greed. It’s all about “me.”
This approach comes with a high price tag. The person with a me-first attitude repels others, reducing credibility, perceived trustworthiness, and ability to receive love and support. Those unfortunate enough to be trapped in close proximity to such an individual know that they must always watch their backs. They either live in defensiveness or chronically sacrifice their own self worth in a futile attempt to get along. Intimacy or true collaborative working relationships are impossible. Ultimately, our culture and way of life suffer, as our long-term survival depends on cooperation and an open sharing of talents.
But why? How can it be that when you give something away, you get more of it? Mathematically, that just doesn’t make sense. However, the spiritual laws in operation here defy and override the laws of mathematics.
To understand this, think about the process of sowing and reaping. Often cited as a negative warning, “what you sow, you’ll reap” is actually a powerful principle that can be used positively.
If you want to harvest corn, plant corn. If you want to bring some delicious butterbeans from your garden into your kitchen, plant butterbeans. You get back the kind of thing you plant.
Further, you get back more than you plant. A seed of corn produces a stalk with several ears of corn and several hundred kernels. I love a quote I heard one time: “You can count the seeds in an apple, but you can’t count the apples in a seed.”
This natural principle also operates at a human level. Whatever you need, plant some of it. Need love? Give love to someone who needs it. Need to be understood? Seek first to understand. Struggling financially? Be willing to share some of what you have with someone in even worse shape than you are. Whatever you lack, give some away. What you sow will be multiplied back to you.
So it’s really not so peculiar that when you give the gift of life by donating blood, you become healthier yourself. As in the rest of life, you get what you give, and more of it.
It truly is more blessed to give than to receive.
