Keep your eye on the Sapsucker

Don't you hate it when you feel taken advantage of? You know darn well you did it again. You gave before you got. You figure that you should be considered the local sap. The doormat. The dingledorf. The dumb bunny.

Funny, years ago, I actually thought others were waiting to take advantage of me. I hung onto everything like it really was going to be mine forever and help the person who took it away. Or tried to even borrow it. And if you didn't return something, it went down in the book of records I kept in my head. It never forgot anything. Funny how we learn and grow isn't it??

The first thing I leaned was, we didn't come into this world with anything but our birthday suit and we are going out the same way. So keep it pressed and wrinkle free:) So does anything really "belong" to you?? I think we are just the temorary keeper of it. Not that we should take that responsibility lightly. I think because of that, we really should do something to help the next generation. The depression kids didn't leave much behind for us but they did teach us how to save for a rainy day. I remember hearing...Oh, you're not going to throw that out are you?

The second thing I learned is that being stingy really keeps you poor. You have what you have and everyone around you has what they have. No one is giving anything away. Don't expect a gift...it's not coming. Not now, not ever. Finders keepers, loosers weepers. Tie it down and lock it up or you know who will have it.

The third thing I learned was the most important. If you learn to give without expecting anything in return, you will get more back than you could ever imagine. The key is to really give without wanting anything back. Do it because you want to. Not need to, or have to, to get something. Because you would still, in the back of your mind, be expecting something in return. It takes practice.

Remember ,you may come across a real sapsucker from time to time, but as Jim Rohn used to say "There's only a few of them in the whole world" and "I can handle that". Don't believe one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch.

~Sandra