Charity begins at home

Short Stories on ‘Charity Begins at Home’

A story is the best way and an entertaining one, to understand the meaning of a proverb. I am giving below a couple of stories based on the proverb ‘charity begins at home’ for your entertainment and knowledge.
Short Story 1
Once there lived a poor priest in a village in India. He lived with his wife and two children. He would get just enough to feed his family of four, but he was a philanthropist at heart and donated a large amount of food grains to the needy. He believed that God one day will recognize his deeds and will reward him. Priest’s wife wasn’t very happy with the donations made by her husband as she believed that there is no point in donating food to others when her own children go to bed hungry. Many times she tried to change the habit of the priest but in vain.
One day it so happened that the priest’s younger son got ill. The reason was that he was sleeping an empty stomach for several nights, resulting in serious damage to the intestines. The priest was shaken, and heartbroken. He asked God – Why God Why? Why have you troubled my own family even when I help others and do charity more than what I can? He didn’t get an answer then and went to sleep.
That night God came in the dream of the priest and told him – “Son, there is no doubt that I love you and your family. I don’t want any harm upon you and your loved ones. But, what happened to your son is because of your own deed, not mine. You were donating food to others when your own son slept hungrily. Does that make sense? You should have known son that charity begins at home! There is still time, take your son to a doctor tomorrow; feed your own family first, before feeding others. I will take care of the rest.” - saying that God disappeared from his dreams.
The next morning the priest woke up a changed man. First, he took his son to a doctor and secondly, he stopped all charity and donated only the surplus grain he had after feeding his family. The son also recovered fast and the priest knew the true meaning of ‘charity begins at home’.