To Love and to be Loved

Morning Story and Dilbert

Vintage Dilbert
January 30, 1999

Once upon a time, a very poor man lived with his wife. One day, his wife, who had very long hair asked him to buy her a comb for her hair to grow well and to be well-groomed.

The man felt very sorry and said no. He explained that he did not even have enough money to fix the strap of his watch he had just broken.

She did not insist on her request.

The man went to work and passed by a watch shop, sold his damaged watch at a low price and went to buy a comb for his wife.

He came home in the evening with the comb in his hand ready to give to his wife.

He was surprised when he saw his wife with a very short hair cut. She had sold her hair and was holding a new watch band.

Tears flowed simultaneously from their eyes, not for the futility of their actions, but for the reciprocity of their love.

Moral of the story: To love is nothing, to be loved is something but to love and to be loved by the one you love, that is everything.

Author -  O. Henry  “The Gift of the Magi”
35 comments
  1. jgmtheo said:

    Lovely story, but my first thought was: wouldn’t it have been better if they talked about their options and shared the possibilities, before taking actions!!!

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  2. lilyboat said:

    such a great love story, one never gets tired of reading this. I actually thought about this story only few days ago!

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  3. Scott (aka Table97) said:

    Based on “The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry.

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  4. Shared this on my FB ministry page today. Have a great Thursday!

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  5. Patty O said:

    Always such a sweet story. Thank you for reminding us of the selfish-less-ness of love. Ok, I know that’s not a word, but if it were it would apply here. 🙂

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  6. When I taught high school English, this was one of my favorite stories to teach. Thanks for the reminder.

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  7. the story a bit different, but the message is the same 🙂

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  8. “To love is nothing, to be loved is something but to love and to be loved by the one you love, that is everything.” That did it for me. God bless.

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  9. My students would have preferred this very abbraeviated version of this story to what they found in their literature books. O. Henry, the master of surprise endings.

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  10. sportsattitudes said:

    Sharing this one with the wife. Simple yet powerful reminder…of the power of love.

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  11. Kenny – Will you please e-mail me (marydet@ptd.net). I would appreciate it. Thank you. Mary Detweiler

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  12. so beautiful. Thanks for another great story, Kenny. God bless. Connie

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  13. I used this as a blog post not too long ago… but I changed it up some. This story is so beautiful~~we are all to love one another like this. Thank you for posting it, the message is great!
    Blessings
    Stephanie

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  14. Reblogged this on Thoughts by Toyosi and commented:
    On my last post I mentioned I’m a hopeless romantic. Read this, and I hope you love it half as much as I do.

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  15. This has always been such a beautiful story. Thanks for condensing it into a daily affirmation!

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  16. I have always loved this story but cry each time I read it. A couple’s true love for one another is exemplified fully…to give up for the other…to sacrifice… 🙂 Is there a greater way to show love? I don’t think so. Thank you! 😀

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      • Thanks, Kenny!!! You know how to make my day! I think a cup of coffee is in order 🙂 .

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