Massive Giving Weekly Quote - Compliments

A compliment is a gift, not to be thrown away carelessly, unless you want to hurt the giver.

Eleanor Hamilton

On this Christmas Eve, I just wanted to take a moment and
leave you with a little story:

The story has been around a while, in fact, I'm not even
sure where it comes from originally or how I came across it.

I like this story because it reminds me that we get one
shot, so we better be giving our best every single time.

Anyway, this story is called "The Carpenter's Mistake" and
it goes like this...

An elderly carpenter was ready to retire. He told his
employer-contractor of his plans to leave the house
building business and live a more leisurely life with his
wife enjoying his extended family. He would miss the
paycheck, but he needed to retire. They could get by.

The contractor was sorry to see his good worker go and asked
if he could build just one more house as a personal favor.

The carpenter said yes, but in time it was easy to see that
his heart was not in his work. He resorted to shoddy
workmanship and used inferior materials. It was an
unfortunate way to end his career.

When the carpenter finished his work and the builder came to
inspect the house, the contractor handed the front-door key
to the carpenter. "This is your house," he said, "My gift to you."

What a shock! What a shame! If he had only known he was
building his own house, he would have done it all so
differently. Now he had to live in the home he had built
none too well.

And so it is with us. We build our lives in a distracted
way, re-acting rather than acting, willing to put up less
than the best. At important points we do not give the job
our best efforts.

Then with a shock we look at the situation we have created
and find that we are now living in the house we have built.

If we had realized, we would have done it differently.
Think of yourself as the carpenter. And your life is your house.

Each day you hammer a nail, place a board, or erect a
wall. Build wisely. It is the only life you will everbuild.
Even if you live it for only one day more, that day
deserves to be lived graciously and with dignity.

The plaque on the wall says, "Life is a do-it-yourself project."

This is the so true, isn't it?

Your life today is the result of your attitudes and choices
in the past. Your life tomorrow will be the result of your
attitudes and the choices you make today.

So choose wisely.

Massive Giving Weekly Quote - Appropriateness

The excellence of a gift lies in its appropriateness rather than in its value.

Charles Dudley Warner

Massive Giving Weekly Quote - Gifts

The great art of giving consists in this: the gift should cost very little and yet be greatly coveted, so that it may be the more highly appreciated.

Baltasar Gracian

Massive Giving Weekly Quote - Presents

Giving presents is a talent; to know what a person wants, to know when and how to get it, to give
it lovingly and well.

Pamela Glenconner

Massive Giving Weekly Quote - Manure on the Ground

Money is like manure; it's not worth a thing unless it's spread around encouraging young things to grow.

- Thornton Wilder

Massive Giving Weekly Quote - Friends

Purchase not friends by gifts; when thou ceasest to give, such will cease to love.

- Thomas Fuller

Massive Giving Weekly Quote - What You Want

“You can have everything in life that you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”

— Zig Ziglar

Massive Giving Weekly Quote - Money Attitude

“If a person gets his attitude toward money straight, it will help straighten out almost every other area in his life.”

— Billy Graham

Massive Giving Weekly Quote - Money

As base a thing as money often is, yet it can be transmuted into everlasting treasure. It can be converted into food for the hungry and clothing for the poor.
— A.W. Tozer

Massive Giving Weekly Quote - Give Time

You must give some time to your fellow men. Even if it's a little thing, do something for others - something for which you get no pay but the privilege of doing it.

-- Albert Schweitzer

Massive Giving Weekly Quote - Three Things

….the three things we crave most in life -- happiness, freedom, and peace of mind -- are always attained by giving them to someone else.

Peyton Conway March

Massive Giving Weekly Quote - Liberation

I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver.

Maya Angelou

Massive Giving Weekly Quote - Intent

The spirit in which a thing is given ...; it's the intention, not the face-value of the gift, that's weighed.

- Seneca