Here's a great way to share in another unexpected way. I am hoping that these ideas will help you do something today to share God's love in unique ways and teach others, what it's like to know and love God and be a Christian! This is a story I received in my email of how one woman found a way to reach out in love and kindness!
This morning, as I got dressed for work, I chose one of my favorite necklaces. I do not wear it often because I want to hold onto it for a long time.
When I got to work, I was walking though a doorway and a woman stopped me and said, “I love your necklace.” I stopped walking to talk to her for a few minutes as she admired it and told me how great it looked on me. I was feeling a bit under the weather and did not feel as though I looked my best. But what she said to me made me feel warm and fuzzy on the inside.
I recalled the many mornings that she has spoken to me with a smile and then remembered something that my mom taught me. “You only give to others things that you would want to have.” As this thought ran through my mind, I unfastened the necklace from around my neck and told her she could have it. She would not take it because I had expressed to her how important it was to me. So I took her by the arm and put the necklace in the palm of her hand.
As I walked off I told her that a blessing given is a blessing received.
I had to share this mornings email post today as it really touched me and I hope it touches you too. May we never be too busy to see the needs of others today. ~ Love Kat
I came across Help Others one afternoon at work and I left my office that day filled with inspiration, wondering how I could make a difference in someone's life, even if only for a moment. I'm in a period of transition moving to a new home as a single parent with three children, finances are tight, my mom is fighting ovarian cancer, my sister has been laid off, my ex-husband is out of work. Life is less than rosy for me right now and I was eager for an opportunity, quite honestly just to feel better about life and make someone else feel better. I was eager to give.
As I left the parking lot, I made my way down the street towards my home. It was an especially hot day even at this late hour of the afternoon. I stopped at an intersection and idly watched a young woman make her way through the heat. I noticed she was limping and that the weight of the sun and the distance that lay ahead were visible on her face.
I realized that I knew her from work and figured out that she must be walking home. I also knew why she was limping she had had a bad car crash with a fatality with much time required for her and her family for recovery. I debated whether to honk and at least say hello, but I didn't want to startle her. Still, I was overwhelmed with the desire to reach out to her. I lightly tapped my horn and she slightly moved her head my way, but then kept walking without looking up. I had just seconds before my light would turn green and I would have to go and she would be gone…so this would be the opportunity. I recalled from some of the stories I read earlier that day that so much can change for the good in just one moment, and when you least expect it, you have a chance to reach out to someone else. So I grabbed it.
I made an unexpected right turn to follow her. Even as I pulled up next to her, I felt strange doing something so completely unplanned and something that was perhaps, by her, unwanted.
She stopped and turned to look as I came near, squinting, unsure, until she recognized me, smiled and said hello. I offered her a ride and she at first declined, it seemed more in an attempt to avoid being a burden. What she didn't know is that I wanted to do this, to take my mind off of what burdened me. I guess I needed to give her a ride as much or more than she actually needed one!
When she accepted, I felt grateful that she did. We chit-chatted on the way to her house, and I offered her rides whenever she needed them in the future, knowing she no longer had use of a car.
She smiled, looking slightly surprised and appreciative of the offer. As I did this, I remember feeling that this shouldn't feel so strange -- reaching out to someone you otherwise don't really see or talk to -- and I was glad to be exercising this kindness "muscle." I realized that it's much easier helping others when directly asked and takes real effort to help unasked, to grab that moment before it passes. It would have been much "easier" to just keep driving that day and go about my business...
I'm glad I didn't.
I wonder if she realized how much she was helping me by letting me be of service. A simple ride home was much more than that for me. She thanked me for the ride when she stepped out of my car and wished me a good day. But in my mind, she was the one who needed to be thanked.
Who knows if I'll ever be in a position to give her a ride again, but how nice it was to simply open that door, literally, and just let someone know that I care. And how very odd that when you set your mind to helping, within minutes...the opportunity "presents" itself. What a gift.
The lure of the distant and the difficult is deceptive. The great opportunity is where you are. -- John Burroughs
~~~~ Fact of the Day: There are certain kinds of creative, off beat ideas that are simply obvious when you hear them. Tarak Shah and Sabina Nieto came up with one. With the economic downturn, every office building in the country probably has unrecognized resources: vacant cubicles. No doubt many are utilized as storage spaces for disabled copy machines, extra office supplies and the like, but here's an inspired possibility: how about the vacant cubicle as art gallery? Now after you read that last sentence, didn't you immediately smile? http://www.dailygood.org/more.php?n=4243
~~~~ Be The Change: Are there resources nearby that you're not seeing? Try looking around again with this question in mind.
One day, while I was walking to work, I decided to bring some flowers that I had picked from my garden that morning. I came across a random stranger, and was inspired to give the bunch to him with a smile card.
Struck by the sense of joy I felt from giving flowers to another person, and maybe brightening his day, I wanted to do it again.
When I got to my office, I had the idea of anonymously leaving flowers around the workplace. Sometimes, the impersonal atmosphere of the building where I work numbs my spirits a little. It's a nice building, with great light, but it just feels a little sterile sometimes. I figured lots of people might feel the same way, so why not put a little beauty there, and throw in an inspirational quote while I'm at it? After all, who doesn't like flowers?
So, for the past month, I've been putting flowers in a little cup on the sink in the bathroom. Each week, I change the flowers and the quote. It always feels refreshing for me to read quotes like Henry David Thoreau's "If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours" and Gandhi's "The fragrance always remains on the hand that gives the rose." If anything, I figured, it at least makes me smile each time I visit the bathroom.
Then today, when I walked in, I noticed new flowers in the cup, and a quote that someone else had written!! It said, "Be the change you wish to see in the world" -Gandhi.
For me, seeing this little act was a reminder that, at the end of the day, we're all just people with hearts. Regardless of the various roles and different hats we may wear in the workplace.
I did a little dance and am smiling wide for the rest of the day! :)
