Love you over and over

A young boy lived in a village with his uncle who was a grumpy old man who never expressed any affection for his nephew. The boy's parents had died when he was a baby and the uncle was his only family. He often felt lonely and would watch with great sadness when walking through the village and seeing a mother who held her child's hand or put her arm around his shoulders or spoke gentle words of love and affection. The boy wished that just once someone would speak to him such words of endearment and affirmation.

One day he walked far from the village and found a place in a valley surrounded by mountains. He watched a bird flying high above him and out of loneliness cried out, "I love you." To his great surprise, he heard "I love you" over and over, and each time it was repeated, it grew fainter and fainter. The boy did not know it was an echo. Then he shouted, "You are so good" and again the echo reverberated the message many times. After that the boy often came to this spot and would call out, just to hear a positive message of love returned to his ear.

Years later he would tell the story to his own son, explaining that he thought at the time that God was speaking to him and providing him with the kind and affectionate words that he so desperately wanted to hear. The lonely sad boy was now a father who held his own child's hand, put his arm around his shoulder, and spoke gentle loving words to him. And he taught his son to always remember that what we give out in goodness comes back to us many times over