Giving and Taking - My Prayer

There are two kinds of life giving. The first is in selfishness, and the second is in selflessness.

Giving life in selfishness is centered on a perpetual cycle of introversion. Their first breath was given to them by two who gave them matter, and their Maker who gave them life - a gift they received. 

Then once indoctrinated in the ways of the material they came from, the pure giving they learned from others turns to a vile form of giving of their own making. The eyes of its possessor look to the tangible world in pursuit of the next stimulus, which heightened experience will take place entirely within themselves, and entirely alone. 

These give their lives to themselves and are really takers. Some of them take for so long insatiably seeking gratification, when the true satisfaction in which they seek and are completely unacquainted with can come only from true giving. 

Ironically, many of these ultimately give the one and only thing they have to give as their first, last, and only offering, which was never theirs to give in the first place - their life. And even in that final act of giving, their book of life records it only as another taking, and the altar of their giving lies empty, while the altar of their taking overflows from each selfish choice they made in life. Their one true Giver meets their offering in kind.

The selfless life is recorded in the great book as one whose every choice was placed on the altar of giving, leaving the altar of taking barren. Their only possession they might have called their own was truly only on loan, as they give their last breath as a seal of their life of giving, back to their maker who gave them their first breath. 

They recognize the blessings that come to them from their perpetual giving only as another personal taking, and view their altar of giving as empty, as their one true Giver looks to their altar in truth and meets their offering in kind. Theirs is a life of humility, which is a life of giving, and in every moment of taking, always finds a way to give.

The man in his intimacy gives; the woman receives, and then gives life in birth. Man receives the priesthood who then gives in service. The twain combined forming a perfect whole of giving and receiving.

MY PRAYER:

Oh thou great and giving God! Thou art Just and doth mete every giving or taking deed in kind. 

My life hast been full of perpetual taking. Mine altar of giving is thine altar of receiving and is depleted of the fruit which thou desirest, of which I have most often feasted upon for mine own pleasure;

And yet I ask thee to overlook my weakness, and provide opportunity that I may fill thine altar with good gifts, that mine eternal reward might not be that which I now deserve. 

Oh Father, that I might yet in life offer unto thee everything that I have, and am, which is already thine but is all I have to give unto thee. 

Oh that my giving might change from taking, that I may have a portion of thy Holy Son's giving, and find favor in thine eyes. 

Oh that I might yet find some gift to put upon thine altar that I might find favor in thy sight and not be cast off forever! 

Oh, that thou mightest have mercy on me, a fallen and worthless being who has taken from thy holy hand all the days of my life and hast scarcely recognized thy giving. 

Oh that I might yet live for thee, and prove myself worthy of thine eternal presence, to dwell with thee in everlasting burnings, where giving goes on forever and ever, and taking ceases for eternity.