I want to thank every person that liked my status from yesterday and decided to take the "challenge" in doing a deliberate random act of kindness for someone. I know that we all do random acts of kindness in one way or another on a daily basis (or at some point in our lives) but how many times do we actually seek out someone to bless? In my own life I was surprised to realize that most of my acts of kindness occurred “in the moment” and not deliberate. Many times it was just my spirit guiding or leading me.
Yesterday I woke up excited! I thought, "What can my act of kindness be for today”? I teach my children to be kind to others every day and I try to walk by example so my mind started racing, “What makes being kind a challenge”? As my family was preparing for work and school they also thought about this “challenge”. What I thought was an easy task taught me so much more.
After getting dressed I sat in my office with many thoughts. The thought that spoke the loudest to me was, “What GRAND act can I come up with”? As I sat in my chair for hours I literally started to feel overwhelmed. None of my “ideas” were good enough for me (one of my weaknesses as a perfectionist…..knowing is half the battle. I’m working on that….lol). Finally I said, “I’m just going to put myself out there in the world and let God create the opportunity for me to bless someone”.
God showed me in that very moment that being kind is in my nature and therefore it comes naturally. The same would be true for every person reading this. I’m sure you can think of times when you blessed someone else out of the blue and it was not planned. It just happened right? Immediately my anxiety about a big grand plan went away and I started getting my things together to leave my house.
Not to my surprise (because God never ceases to amaze me) things that I probably didn’t notice before started to jump out at me. For example, I noticed a McDonald’s gift packet worth $8.00 and if anyone could have witnessed my reaction to this find they would have thought I won the lottery. I also ran across books that I have read but have not seen in years and immediately thought, “This book must be for someone else to read”. I don’t usually carry cash with me and I started finding money in my house and knew it was probably meant for someone else. So, I gathered all of my findings into a bag and threw it all in my car. I left my house with no agenda, which for me does not happen. I usually have it all mapped out but I truly just wanted to be led by the Lord. I did have one destination planned which was going to be a surprise for someone special.
My first stop was to Starbucks. I went through the drive thru and ordered. When I arrived at the window I paid for my order and told the cashier I was paying for the car behind me. I wish you could have seen her face! It was priceless. Maybe this was truly a blessing for her. Her response was, “That would make your order $7.00 more, are you sure you want to do that”? I gave her a large bill and said, “Yes, and you can put the rest in the tip jar”. She then had the biggest grin on her face and said, “That is the nicest thing I’ve ever seen”. You never know how your kindness can bless others. What if this one small act restored her faith in humanity? We all have that thing on the inside of us that wants to help others. I drove away from Starbucks thinking, “Sweet”.
As I was approaching the ramp to get on the highway I saw someone standing with a sign. You know the kind. For the first time I was actually excited to see the man with the sign, “Need money for food”. Well, to be completely honest I never noticed if anyone usually stands at that intersection with a sign. Have I become immune to this? Anyway, I rolled down my window and gave him the McDonald’s packet along with all the cash I could grab from my purse which was $5. He looked into my eyes and said with conviction, “God is going to bless you”. I replied, “God bless you”. I drove away with a feeling I cannot describe. I’ve given money before to what appeared to be the homeless on the street but this time was different. I can’t really describe it but I was truly blessed by that experience.
Just by leaving my house God gave me opportunities to bless others. That’s all I really prayed for…..just the opportunity. I drove down the highway thinking, “What if those people are angels in disguise standing there for US to have an opportunity to notice the needs of others and love others”? What an interesting thought!
I ended my day with an hour drive across town to surprise someone. I wanted to just spend time with them and take them out to dinner. We had an amazing time! I also continued to look for opportunities to bless others while I was there and it ended with someone actually blessing us. As I was getting ready to pay the bill one of the staff members said, “Don’t worry about it, it’s on me”. My eyes were probably as big as saucers at that point. I looked at her and thought, “This is what it feels like”. My day ended with a full circle. God is SO good!
Yesterday really showed me that it’s the little things we do that can often times make the biggest difference for someone else. There are no expectations on your kindness when it's done from a pure heart and a desire to lift up the spirits of others. That is what brings me pure joy!
PS I also want to share what the girls did. Carrington: “I bought my friend some candy and gave another friend my basketball shoes I don’t wear”. Katelyn: “I bought candy for Carrington”. Charity: “I gave a compliment to my teacher. I told her she was beautiful today. She smiled and told me I could get candy out of the treasure box”.
Continue to allow that “something” in your spirit to bless others like it desires to do. So many circumstances can come against us throughout the day and it really is our choice whether or not we allow it to steal our joy.
SN: I was stuck in traffic which made my hour trip almost two hours. I actually saw that as an opportunity as well. It took longer because I was letting cars cut in front of me (two lanes were closed). I had a choice to get frustrated, speed up, and complain that they knew the lane was going to end soon or just simply relax and be kind. Choose kindness today and don’t give away your joy. JOY is GOD’S currency!
~Blessings~
Tonya
Yesterday I woke up excited! I thought, "What can my act of kindness be for today”? I teach my children to be kind to others every day and I try to walk by example so my mind started racing, “What makes being kind a challenge”? As my family was preparing for work and school they also thought about this “challenge”. What I thought was an easy task taught me so much more.
After getting dressed I sat in my office with many thoughts. The thought that spoke the loudest to me was, “What GRAND act can I come up with”? As I sat in my chair for hours I literally started to feel overwhelmed. None of my “ideas” were good enough for me (one of my weaknesses as a perfectionist…..knowing is half the battle. I’m working on that….lol). Finally I said, “I’m just going to put myself out there in the world and let God create the opportunity for me to bless someone”.
God showed me in that very moment that being kind is in my nature and therefore it comes naturally. The same would be true for every person reading this. I’m sure you can think of times when you blessed someone else out of the blue and it was not planned. It just happened right? Immediately my anxiety about a big grand plan went away and I started getting my things together to leave my house.
Not to my surprise (because God never ceases to amaze me) things that I probably didn’t notice before started to jump out at me. For example, I noticed a McDonald’s gift packet worth $8.00 and if anyone could have witnessed my reaction to this find they would have thought I won the lottery. I also ran across books that I have read but have not seen in years and immediately thought, “This book must be for someone else to read”. I don’t usually carry cash with me and I started finding money in my house and knew it was probably meant for someone else. So, I gathered all of my findings into a bag and threw it all in my car. I left my house with no agenda, which for me does not happen. I usually have it all mapped out but I truly just wanted to be led by the Lord. I did have one destination planned which was going to be a surprise for someone special.
My first stop was to Starbucks. I went through the drive thru and ordered. When I arrived at the window I paid for my order and told the cashier I was paying for the car behind me. I wish you could have seen her face! It was priceless. Maybe this was truly a blessing for her. Her response was, “That would make your order $7.00 more, are you sure you want to do that”? I gave her a large bill and said, “Yes, and you can put the rest in the tip jar”. She then had the biggest grin on her face and said, “That is the nicest thing I’ve ever seen”. You never know how your kindness can bless others. What if this one small act restored her faith in humanity? We all have that thing on the inside of us that wants to help others. I drove away from Starbucks thinking, “Sweet”.
As I was approaching the ramp to get on the highway I saw someone standing with a sign. You know the kind. For the first time I was actually excited to see the man with the sign, “Need money for food”. Well, to be completely honest I never noticed if anyone usually stands at that intersection with a sign. Have I become immune to this? Anyway, I rolled down my window and gave him the McDonald’s packet along with all the cash I could grab from my purse which was $5. He looked into my eyes and said with conviction, “God is going to bless you”. I replied, “God bless you”. I drove away with a feeling I cannot describe. I’ve given money before to what appeared to be the homeless on the street but this time was different. I can’t really describe it but I was truly blessed by that experience.
Just by leaving my house God gave me opportunities to bless others. That’s all I really prayed for…..just the opportunity. I drove down the highway thinking, “What if those people are angels in disguise standing there for US to have an opportunity to notice the needs of others and love others”? What an interesting thought!
I ended my day with an hour drive across town to surprise someone. I wanted to just spend time with them and take them out to dinner. We had an amazing time! I also continued to look for opportunities to bless others while I was there and it ended with someone actually blessing us. As I was getting ready to pay the bill one of the staff members said, “Don’t worry about it, it’s on me”. My eyes were probably as big as saucers at that point. I looked at her and thought, “This is what it feels like”. My day ended with a full circle. God is SO good!
Yesterday really showed me that it’s the little things we do that can often times make the biggest difference for someone else. There are no expectations on your kindness when it's done from a pure heart and a desire to lift up the spirits of others. That is what brings me pure joy!
PS I also want to share what the girls did. Carrington: “I bought my friend some candy and gave another friend my basketball shoes I don’t wear”. Katelyn: “I bought candy for Carrington”. Charity: “I gave a compliment to my teacher. I told her she was beautiful today. She smiled and told me I could get candy out of the treasure box”.
Continue to allow that “something” in your spirit to bless others like it desires to do. So many circumstances can come against us throughout the day and it really is our choice whether or not we allow it to steal our joy.
SN: I was stuck in traffic which made my hour trip almost two hours. I actually saw that as an opportunity as well. It took longer because I was letting cars cut in front of me (two lanes were closed). I had a choice to get frustrated, speed up, and complain that they knew the lane was going to end soon or just simply relax and be kind. Choose kindness today and don’t give away your joy. JOY is GOD’S currency!
~Blessings~
Tonya
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