HOW DO YOU GIVE ?

Do you give with need

to fill your empty coffers ?

Do you give with hope

that prayers will be answered ?

Do you give with want

for interest on the deposit ?

or instead with joy

and emotion quite opposite

How do you give?

Do you give with expectation

of gratuity and bonus ?

Do you give with desire

to favour your forecast ?

Do you give with greed,

for return in equal measure?

or instead with delight,

for purposeless pleasure

How do you give?

Do you give to fulfil

a pressing requirement ?

Do you give to buy

a place in the firmament ?

Do you give to compensate

years of waywardness ?

or instead with calm

and serene wholeness

How do you give?

The question therefore

is not what we gave

not how much we gave

or to whom we gave

The justification

of every donation

as long as we live

lies in how we give