One of my favourite stories is the story of the Rainbow Fish. He is a beautiful fish with lots of shiny, sparkly scales that make him the most admired fish in all the sea. And he knew it. As we would say in Glasgow he  fair fancied his barra! No one would play with him because he was so superior to them. This made him sad and he went off to ask for some advice from the Wise Octopus. She said he had to give away his scales - but that was too much for the Rainbow Fish! Who would he be if he didn't have all those beautful, sparkly scales to impress every one with? But that remained her advice. So he took all his courage in his fins  and began to give away his beautiful, shiny scales. What the Rainbow Fish discovered was that when  he gave away his scales people began to like him. Not only did he like to be liked it also gave him a lovely feeling. He felt good inside.

Sometimes we can feel that we don't want to give away what is precious to us - our money, our time, our children to another person. But often we can find, just like the Rainbow Fish, that when we do life becomes a joy to us. Giving £9:50 to Mary's Meals pays for an African  child to have lunch at school - for a year. That has to be a good feeling. Giving away some of our time to help in a charity shop or befriending someone has to be a good feeling.

We need only give some of us away. Indeed if we give all of ourselves away then we will end up  on empty and no good to anyone. Maybe 2012 will be the year that you think about giving away something of yourself that will help someone else. Giving away a few of your shiny, sparkly scales to another person means that there will be more shine and sparkle in the cold, dark days of winter.

All blessings,  Elisabeth

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