Last night I had some friends over for dinner & I really enjoyed making a nice dinner for everyone (I even tried some new recipes that weren’t too bad). As I sat & enjoyed the fellowship, my family & food, one of the things that I enjoyed the most was that our meal couldn’t be repaid.
This is my same experience with saving Moses – I get to give to babies & toddlers with a pure heart & no strings attached. It brings me great joy & happiness when I get to freely give & bless others. Somewhere it says that it’s more blessed to give than receive ,)
blessing
some easy ideas for being a blessing
I had my really cool small group today & I love watching the creative ways that people come up with to serve others. Here are some easy ways:
- get coffee for someone else
- put furniture back when it’s disordered
- clean off counter / table surfaces
- smile at someone you don’t know for no reason
- bring in a plate of homemade goodies unexpectedly
- hold the door open for someone
- let someone take the parking space first
- give someone an honest compliment
- when driving, give someone space in front of you to change lanes
- be quick to forgive or admit a mistake
- thank the cashier for their help when checking out
Please help me with your ideas as well!
Spring Cleaning and Soul Cleaning :)
We could probably all do a bit of extra cleaning in this season, especially with all of the kids’ school stuff that’s presently occupying far too much counter space 🙂
Here’s another idea for some Spring Cleaning that I’ve been thinking about lately: perhaps we could all do some “soul cleaning” with some fresh work on the forgiveness front. Here’s what got me thinking about this – yesterday, I ran across a person with whom I had a very unpleasant exchange in January & I found myself being very frosty with this person, noticeably LESS friendly with them than anyone else. This was a nice wake up call that I probably need to freshen up my forgiveness maintenance. Maybe you’re not like me, but I find that I’m really keen to make the forgiveness decision, but sometimes I neglect the followup maintenance that forgiveness can require. When I make the forgiveness decision, for me this means that I chose to not “punish” the person for our altercation by being unpleasant in any future exchanges. Furthermore, when I forgive a person, I make the decision not to discuss their failure with anyone else (outside of a normal healthy disclosure). Additionally, when I chose to forgive, I find it helpful to bless person & to “let go” of the offense – not remind them of their failure by bringing up the past. Like I said on my fb post, forgiveness is a decision that can require ongoing maintenance ,)
Happy Spring Cleaning!
shortcuts
I’m all about shortcuts – if i can figure out a way to do something faster & easier, i’m a happy camper! sometimes i even find myself taking silly risks just to see if a shortcut can work. Invariably, my shortcuts don’t usually work & you think i’d have learned that lesson by now. Maybe i’m a slow learner. Maybe i’m a little bit like Esau who traded his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of lentils, just because he was hungry. He exchanged an established position of blessing, prosperity, security & leadership for some food to eat & only to be hungry again in a few hours.
Honestly, i think our society is alot like Esau at present. We try to take lots of shortcuts, make quickie fix-its, take a panacea pill, do a fast fix to “make life better.” The truth is, life occurs over the space of about 70-75 years & if we’re kingdom minded, we must look at our lives in a generational mindset w continuity & the purpose of growing the next generation to be stronger in God than we ever will be. There are no shortcuts to integrity, to lasting fulfillment, intimacy w God, stepping into eternity on sure footing and more.
Let’s not get seduced by a bowl of lentils, a temporary pleasure & miss the long-term blessing.
