The goal: 25 random acts of kindness (inspired by Christmas being Dec. 25)
Sadly we didn't make it. We only made it to 14. At first I really upset by this. The girls were having fun, Ryan was having fun, and I was having a BLAST! We were able to do multiple things that we wouldn't normally do, for people we should, but don't normally think of. We baked, we gave Christmas decorations to people that didn't have any, we gave money, we gave old coats that we had way to many of in the first place, the kids made things for people. ect. It was a lot of fun. It's really true, when you give of your resources, be it a skill, time, money, whatever--it makes you feel good. That's not why we attempted this project, but it sure wasn't a bad benefit of it. The best part of it all is that even though we were not expecting anything in return, there were things given in return. The Lord met several needs that we had and some that we didn't know we would have. It's been fun to teach the girls that they are not the most important things in the world. We were able to talk about things that would otherwise be hard conversations to have. When we told them that there were children that had nothing-no extra clothes, toys, sometimes not even enough food, my little givers filled a laundry hamper of toys they had that they wanted to give "the kids" as they referred to them. That blessed my heart. To make it even better they didn't pick out old toys or broken toys. They even gave some of their very favorite things! Talk about convicting to me. I'm so quick to part with things I don't like, want, or need but what about the things that I do like? Why do I think I'm more important than someone else or that I deserve to have this more? I was a great lesson for our entire home. Next Christmas we will try again! We will start earlier instead of starting in December so things like illness, family illnesses, or weather (it is Oklahoma, after all) don't hinder us from reaching our goal. We've also decided to tackle one project like this each month of the year! I would love to encourage anyone who reads this to consider the same thing. It really is worth it!
Luke 6:38
Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”
The pursuit of TRUE happiness...that's what I am longing for, but not the kind that most would think of. We strive to live the simple life. I like old things, my kids play outside instead of on electronics, we eat dinner at home-not resturants (most of the time), and really value our family time!
