My friend sent me link to a page about 29 Gifts. Go to givingchallenge.ning.com which is my personal part of the site, but it will direct you to more information. The challenge is to give a gift a day for 29 days. It doesn't have to be cost money, or be a present per se. Just give of yourself.
My friend inspires me because I think this is how she lives every day. So in honor of her, I signed up and started my own 29 days of giving. I think this is a worthy challenge, capable of changing my attitude at the very least. Perhaps the world will also be blessed, and I think that's why we are here.
My first day was simple: I agreed to bake chocolate chip cookies with the kids. For me, that is truly giving from the heart. I don't like to bake with kids, even mine. They are messy and I am task-oriented. They argue, I lose patience, and it's not fun. Ever.
This time, I gave the baking of cookies as a gift to them. I made a little plan ahead of time, Maia with her jobs and James with his. It worked better than I feared. The cookies were baked and tasted (yum). The kids were tired of the activity long before I finished baking the last cookie and putting them all in Ziploc bags.
It was evening and it was morning, the first day. Only the first day. Big deal, you say. It's not like the first day of creation. It's not that huge. Well, let me say it was also the first day I baked with my kids and didn't get upset even once about the mess. The first day I went with the flow when they got tired of baking and simply finished the job myself with great joy. The first day I didn't complain about not being able to eat them because they have sugar in them. The first day I washed dishes after a baking episode and felt like singing instead of cursing.
One day. One gift. I was the one who received it, however.
I challenge you to give a gift a day for 29 days. I will write more of these. My friend is blogging on the 29 Gifts site. You can read hers, too.
Whatever our politics, whatever our personalities, there's not one of us without the possibility of bringing light into darkness or chocolate chip cookies into a sometimes sour world. Maybe the only ones who are changed will be ourselves. In my case, that's not so bad.
2 comments:
It is all about kindness, isn't it?
A smile, a day of baking chocolate chip cookies, an encouraging word, a card sent in the mail, a package full of twizzlers and dog treats, it can be 0 cents to whatever you have. It can be time, which is the most precious gift of all- a phone call, a conversation in the hallway, a visit on the front porch.
We can change the world, one kind act at a time!
Love
kim
It sort of reminds me of Lent. (We do the give something instead of the take something during this preparation period.) While I'll not join the "29 Gifts", it does challenge me to be more aware of giving on a regular basis not just during a prescribed Church season.
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