The Ultimate Gift: Inspirational Book & Movie

"Love is a treasure for which we can never pay. The only way we keep it is to give it away."

I love what's said about the gift of giving: "One of the key principles in giving, however, is that the gift must be yours to give - either something you earned or created or maybe, simply part of yourself."

It can be so simple, really. A smile. A hug. A listening ear. Those are all gifts that offer a part of yourself to another. They're simple for you, but can be huge to the person receiving them. Check out my random acts of kindness lens for more on this.

"In the end, life lived to its fullest is its own ultimate gift."

Something else that touched me significantly in the book is this: "I know that at some point I will live the last day of my life. I have been thinking about how I would want to live that day or what I would do if I had just one day left to live. I have come to realize that if I can get that picture in my mind of maximizing one day, I will have mastered the essence of living, because life is nothing more than a series of days."

I've thought about this before in my life. It wasn't the first time that I encountered the idea when I read it in the book. But there was just something about how it was worded in The Ultimate Gift that struck me strongly.

We get so busy. We go crazily about our days, often doing things we "should" do or "have to" do, kind of missing the point . . . missing the essence of life . . . rapidly moving through our days until we reach a point where we wonder what we really did with our life. I think it's a powerful thing to ponder this quote and this concept and to work to really focus on today, each day, and on making the best day . . . as though it was our last.

"I could . . . spread the ultimate gift all around the world."

I'm processing this concept: "Our passions and dreams and goals are the outward manifestations of the love we feel inside."

It's one of those statements that makes me go, "Hmmm."

It does that because I wonder if that's really the case for most people. Are our passions and dreams and goals really the outward manifestations of the love we feel inside? Or are they based on misaligned desires or other people's wishes for us or simply on the circumstances we find ourselves in?

I know this quote from the book has certainly impacted me and caused me to take a long, hard look at what I'm doing.

How about for you?

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