There are two pleasures for a person: one - when he takes, and the other - when he gives. The joy that they experience, giving away, is incomparable to that which they feel taking something. Man, in order to understand whether he is doing well in relation to the spiritual, must first of all test himself, whether he rejoices, giving, and not when accepting. And then, if he works in a spiritual way, doing some kind of good, he never remembers it, but he never forgets the smallest good done to him. He can not close his eyes to even the most insignificant benefit of others towards him.
He himself, perhaps, gave someone a whole vineyard and forgot about it. But one grape cluster, given to him from the vineyard, he can never forget. Or maybe he gave someone a lot of carved wooden icons and does not remember that. If, however, this "someone" gives him one icon, sealed in plastic, he will come to be touched by this icon, despite its low price, and with gratitude will then think about how to repay him.
He can build a whole church, to sacrifice land for construction and forget about it. That is, the right spiritual path is this: forget the good done by you, and remember the good things that were done to you by others.
- St. Paisios of Mt. Athos
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