What's the Catch?

“What’s the catch?” This is a phrase often heard when gifts are freely given. It’s the normal response to a symptom of our modern society that demands reciprocity.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this concept lately. For the most part, we live our lives in a reciprocal system exchanging a belief of perceived value for different goods and services. This idea is such a fundamental part of our lives that when true humanity comes into this system, it’s immediately challenged.

We live in a gift-giving universe. Everything you have to be a human being was given to you, there was no transaction that took place. You didn’t have to pay for your body, it was a gift freely given to you. In fact, the entire ecosystem works on this principle. The ground doesn’t demand payment when we reap the benefits of its gifts nor do the animals feel owed when giving to our ecosystem at large.

When we freely give, we transcend our eye for an eye system and grow ever closer to the reality of the universe - to humanity, grace, and love. It's a place where “the catch” doesn’t exist.