In these season of glad tidings, may we find it in the generosity of our hearts to extend our kindness to others who least expect it from us.

A lot of times, we may have far more than we really need to eat and drink, while so many people are suffering and hungry.

If we share the little that we have with someone who doesn’t have, it might even be better than we think.

It may not be our duty to give to these people, but we should also remember that no one wants to be in a beggaring position and that an act of kindness no matter how small, is never a wasted effort.

I will crave your indulgence in sharing a personal story. I hesitate, because in my frame of mind, good deeds done towards others are between me, the recipient and God.

These gestures are not things that I wish to publicize, but I just want to share one of the times when I have reaped unprecedented fruits which I believe were the result of kindness.

Several years ago in Lagos, I had a catering outfit which had started out small just to test the waters.

I pursued and got contracts to service some corporate bodies with hot meals, finger foods etc, and I would always join my staff to attend to these customers, sharing a word, smiles and general chit-chat.

At the end of each day that we worked, left over food was shared to those who could not afford to buy these meals. Many of them were total strangers on the streets who were destitute.

This went on consistently for a while and though one or two people thought that it was being wasteful (because they felt that we could still serve some of the leftover the following day) but I never saw it that way and as a matter of principle, we shared everything to the last spoon.

I recall that on one of the days, a poor man came up to my vehicle to thank us for all the food that he had been receiving and he was almost in tears.

I was a bit embarrassed to see a grown man scrounging for food and I told him that it was not a problem and that so long as I was catering in the vicinity, we would give him something to eat.

Anyway to cut a long story short, we continued giving as much as we could.

Not too long after, my small scale business exploded.

It became inundated with so much demand that we could hardly keep up and I had to turn down some jobs at the onset of the deluge.

I had contracts crawling out of the woodwork’s and falling all over my company, that the only way to go was to expand fast in other to manage the demand.

I quickly employed more hands, bought a second delivery bus, and within the space of four months thereafter, I saw myself entertaining the idea of building my own structure which had not been in my plan because the rented space that I was using got too small.

Nothing had prepared me for such breakthrough.

In a quick wave, I had realized sufficient capital to build and equip a modern medium-scaled bakery and a kitchen.

This project ran into millions of Naira (Nigerian currency) without a single loan from anybody, but gains realized from the overflow of business that rained on me.

Some might call it coincidence and hard work, but I called it divine intervention. I called it spiritual uplifting. I called it OPEN HEAVENS!

Whatever part of the World you might be in; from London to Tokyo, US to Zimbabwe, Japan to Ottawa, Venezuela to Nigeria, Cambodia to Paris, Russia to the moon, these principles remain the same!

I am not advising that your giving should be tied with expecting something in return, but that the law of nature works that way.

Gratitude makes what we have enough and more, while generosity opens up the store house of harvest for us.

The wise words of the Bible says that, ”when you open your hands to give, you equally open your hands to receive.”

”We must give in other to get more. It is the generous giving of ourselves that produces the generous harvest” – Orison Swett Marden.

”Generosity consists not of the sum given, but the manner in which it is bestowed” –  Mahatma Gandhi

”We can do no great things, only small things with great love” –  Mother Theresa

Thank you izzyasabee for your invitation to participate in the 3 quote challenge.

I would like to invite these 3 lovely bloggers to participate in the 3 quote challenge.

Edwina Episodes

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© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha