Are we not all beggars?

Here is a talk by Elder Jeffery R Holland, I taught it today in Relief Society, but the lesson took an interesting tangent.

It didn't take too much to talk about giving to have to recognize that we all have more things then we ever need or use (my apologies if this statement does not apply to your life, but being that you have internet and time to search it, it most likely does). But pretty soon it was about how much more we have then we need, and in America poverty is not marked by owning nothing or just a few things, it is marked by not knowing how to manage your resources (like time, money, education, and of course stuff).

So in America is it very little to give your things. Most of us could half our closet loads and barely notice at all. So our challenge is not to give of our stuff (of course we still should, and I even consider it a blessing to unload my substance upon others), but the real challenge is to give of our time, energy and knowledge to others. That is what is in short supply and is what is needed to help others (little steps at at time) to learn what they need to lift themselves up, to build their own industries and thrift and in turn help others do the same.

And I guess that is what I want from the Lord, not his things, but his knowledge and understanding, the ability to become like him.

I find, that even when I give enough to pinch my own circumstances, that it always comes back. What I need is always available some way by the time I am ready to use it.

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/10/are-we-not-all-beggars?lang=eng&media=audio#listen=audio