It is so easy to focus on what we do not have. “Keeping up with the Jones’s” may be a joke passed around among friends, but to some it hits harder than others. Other families cannot even begin to imagine trying to keep up with the Jones’s – they are just trying to make their monthly mortgage, keep food on their table, and clothes on their children’s backs.
Times are tough, lately, for all of us. However, especially with the holidays right around the corner, I would like to pose a question to everyone…Are you able to see your blessings? Everyone has them. Some have more than others, they are all packaged up differently, but we all have them, if we look close enough.
To some, it may be a household full of loud, enthusiastic, rambunctious children and not many extra things. To others, it may be lots of friends, community support, and fun activities to participate in. Others may have a job they absolutely love and feel blessed to have. While others still may have wonderful physical health.
I just want to give you a chance to think for yourself about the many blessings that you personally and/or your family enjoy.
Once having done that, I then issue a challenge for you as the upcoming holiday season begins. We all have friends, some struggling more than others this year, that could use a little extra blessing this year. Challenge yourself to think outside the box. Is there one specific blessing that you could pass along to someone close to you to give them hope, encouragement, or just to show love, asking nothing in return?
Be as creative as you can be. After having done that, if you would like, it would be great to hear in the comment section what you did to bless someone else and what their response was.
Just this week I was volunteering at my kid’s school. One boy, whom all the kids look up to in his 2nd grade class, was sitting alone at lunch. I asked him if he was okay, and he wasn’t! A boy in his class verbally hurt his feelings- then teased him for crying! I told him that boy should not have done that and that I was sorry. I grabbed an employee to handle the matter. The next morning I left a small toy in the hurt boy’s locker, & signed it from a ‘secret friend’. I stood back and watched his face light up, and that he shared the opening of the locker w/ several other kids- before unwrapping it! It made me realize the toy itself didn’t really matter, it was the gesture of the giving. Great lesson for me!