You can give away too much of yourselves. Sometimes you like to give away too much. Even as you know you are overdoing, you feel impelled or compelled to give away too much of your own hide. I wonder what it is that you think you have to prove. And to whom are you proving it? To others or to yourself? Is there something somewhere that you think you have to atone for? You didn’t get the idea of overdoing and sacrifice from Me, beloveds.
When you give away too much, you are exceeding. You are simply giving away too much. No one asked you to. Or, if someone does ask or expect it of you, still it’s something you ask of yourself or demand of yourself. You may feel this beforehand or afterwards and then you recognize and are dismayed at your lopsidedness. Still, you do it.
There is an expression: Giving your whole heart and soul.
Giving your whole heart and soul to Me is one thing. Giving your whole heart and soul to the world doesn’t carry the same ring. Your giving away everything is not the same as loving everyone. Perhaps somewhere in your psyche, you believe you have to make up for something, and you don’t know what. Let Me state this clearly and firmly:
I do not ask you to be a martyr. Martyrdom is not meant to be a conscious or unconscious ambition.
Your giving is not to subtract from you. If you give more than you can give, you are suspect. You may be making yourself into a self-induced self-proclaimed martyr. Yes, by all means, give. This does not mean to give all your life energy away.
It is not exactly that you withhold. It is not that you crimp your giving. I am saying that sometimes, no matter how caring you are, there is more to your giving than giving. Giving isn’t meant to wipe you out. And your intentions may be more self-serving than you realize. Who wants a martyr around? I do not ask for martyrs, nor does the world need or want them.
You can give selflessly. Giving selflessly doesn’t mean you give your life away. You can still hold yourself erect and have regard for yourself. Yet, if deeply within you, when you are giving with even a tiny bit of thought of return, if even in the far-off crevices of your mind, you are longing for return, you will be disappointed, for you are asking for too much, not of yourself, but of others. You may give too much in order to receive a whole bushel-load in return. No one wants to be the recipient of your self-sacrifice.
If you are someone who gives more than you can give, you may be looking for a big tip. It may be gratitude you are looking for. Or acknowledgement and, perhaps, admiration. Some kind of return. If this is the case, and it likely is, release yourself from a self-imposed sentence of servitude. You are not to be a slave to giving. You do not have to prove that you really are a good person who gives with everything you’ve got.
Nor am I saying that you are to weigh and measure your giving.
If you do not take care of yourself, how are you going to give service to others? And to Me, beloveds?
You are not to give to the bone and wear yourself out so that you have nothing left to give to yourself.
Look, you can run in front of a car to save someone and lose your physical life. That is your choice. It is a willing choice you make.
To give all of yourself to others in daily life, to wear yourself out, to deny yourself, is not heroic. It is possible to give and to keep yourself intact at the same time. You, also, are a deserving person. You do not have to flatten yourself out in order for others to grow.
Here’s another angle: When you give too much here or there, you are neglecting other others who, as a result of your over-generosity, are skipped over.
You are not selfish to also give yourself an ounce of attention. You are reckless to give away more than you can give.