Thursday, April 23, 2009

The Law of Reciprocity (something our grandfathers understood)

published by bblovas1

Just as we witness the natural laws of physics everyday and take them for granted. We even more overlook the simple law of reciprocity.

Everyday we see a affect of gravity at work. We know that if we throw a ball up in the air it, will fall back to the ground. We are not stupid enough to throw an anvil up and hope it will float away: we know it will fall straight down, and perhaps land on our head if we don’t move out the way fast.

Likewise, we see the affects of the law of reciprocity daily, yet by our action we prove that we don’t get it! Reciprocity isn’t a word we use everyday, but we do experience it everyday. Every time you eat a salad or enjoy the beauty of a flower you are benefiting from reciprocity.

Reciprocity is the return of like kind of offering. A plant gives up a seed and in return it makes a whole new plant. I am sure as you were growing up you heard the saying,” What goes around, comes around.” That is a true principle. If you are willing to cheat a friend, you will most likely choose the same type of friends as yourself, who will ultimately cheat you. If you are willing to have an affair with a married person, and they leave their spouse for you. You will undoubtedly have the fear that they will leave you too. Even if they never leave you, the guilt alone or the fear of it possibly happening can be crippling and enough steal the closeness of the relationship you thought you had. It is a matter of reaping what you have sown.

Another saying you probably heard is, “One good shake deserves another.” Apparently our grandparents had a grasp of reciprocity. Back then, a handshake or a verbal contract meant something. Our grandfathers understood that a good name was better than riches; and that going to bed with a clear conscience was reward enough for a hard day’s work. Apparently they understood much better than us what the bible meant by, ” Do unto others as you would have done unto you” … in layman’s terms, “treat others the way you want them to treat you.” Why? Because they understood reciprocity.

The Bible says, Give and it shall be given to you, pressed down shaken together and running over shall man give unto you.” It also says, ” If you have done [a good thing] for the least of your brethren, you have done it unto ME [God]. In the Bible, in Malachi, chapter 3, God talks about how people rob HIM by not giving Him the tithes and offerings that He has required. He challenges us to “test him to see if He will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing too big for us to receive. ” God has set certain laws into place: some physical and some spiritual.

Jesus said that true religion is demonstrated by us taking care of the widows and the orphans. God has told us several times to give to others and to take care of the needy, yet we hold back our money from God and ignore the needs of our fellow man … and wonder why we struggle to pay our own bills. It is time we woke up and realized the law of reciprocity is at work, whether we like it or not.

Some have built personal empires using those principles: the founder of Wendy’s, the founder of Walmart, Bill Gates … and one you might not have thought of as being rich: Mother Theresa. She was spiritually rich.

Reciprocity is at work among us everyday. Reciprocity is a principle that is applies to all — just as gravity is applies to us all. Knowing this should help you in making better decisions in what you choose to do today. Learn to give, learn to love, learn to lend to those who can’t repay you and be honest when no one else is looking … you will reap a good return!

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