We had a VERY cold winter this year. It was more than 20 degrees below zero on several occasions. So our first project was to take warm muffins and hot chocolate to the crossing guards. These crossing guards are near every school and help to get the children of our community across the streets safely. It was so much fun to drive through the community and hand these wonderful adults something to warm them up. The gratefulness of the first crossing guard actually brought tears to my eyes. This was a very simple act, but it changed her world that day. After that first blessing it became apparent to me that we might actually be blessed more than those we are blessing.
That first blessing went great, but we have hit some snags and struggles along the way. My original plan was to involve at least 75% of the family in each blessing in order for it to count, I wanted to work once a month with an established organization and I wanted to bless those in the community around us. Well, those plans haven't always worked out exactly how I thought. We have found that many organizations don't accept children under a certain age or only accept volunteers during the school day hours, making it hard for us to meet the first two guidelines. I have also seen the need to bless those not only in our community, but also in our family. So, our guidelines needed to be adjusted a bit, but the idea is still the same. Take each week and choose one idea that you haven't done yet this year and have fun blessing someone else.
My favorite and our children's favorite blessing thus far is the day we handed out gift cards at our local discount store. It was amazing! We took the whole family this time and divided into three "teams." Each child choose a gift card from the store and used the $15 we had given them to load the cards at the check out. We instructed the children to think of people that might really need a $15 boost. One decided they would look for a mom with a lot of kids, one wanted to find a pregnant women and another wanted to find an elderly person....they had caught the vision. Our teams split up through out the store and the children began to look for a person to bless. They really struggled with this decision, I could tell they were worried about making "the wrong choice." We stopped and took a moment to pray: "God, please help us to see with your eyes and listen to our hearts as you guide us to the people you want to bless today." As we continued to walk through the store they continued to struggle. So, I told them that if they think they see someone, that they should pray in their mind and see if they have a peace about the idea. That seemed to work well for them. The teams were split up, so I didn't get to see each card be handed out, but I saw a few. There were two older couples that argued with us a little, but we insisted and they finally accepted. We did find a pregnant women, a single father and some others the kids had a heart for. My favorite however, was when our eight year old spotted a women with two carts of groceries. She walked up, handed her the card and said, "I would like you to have this." The women responded by asking "why?" Our daughter replied, "because God wants us to care for one another." As she was walking back towards me, my eyes met with another lady in the aisle. This women had overheard the conversation and with tears in her eyes she mouthed the words, "that was so sweet." We had blessed an additional person without even trying. Later in the store I saw this women telling her husband and children about the events she had overheard. Maybe they might even be inspired to give a blessing of their own.
Let me be honest, when I told our children last November that we were going to be completing weekly blessings, they were less than thrilled. But now, they ask me what we are going to be doing. They even give me feedback and have started coming up with ideas of their own. We are having a great time, growing closer together, making great memories and sharing God's blessings along the way. It is a great start to our year. Let me encourage you to take a challenge to bless others (maybe once a month or every other week) you will be amazed at how wonderful the experiences actually are. You and your children will not be disappointed!
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