Your life is amazing, you just have to look for it.
I was laying on the couch sleeping (probably snoring) after an exhausting weekend. I fell asleep on the couch way before any of the kids went to bed and I was OUT. This was no light nap. I would have slept there all night and then been confused when I woke up in the morning if the following hadn't happened.
I felt something poking my face, specifically my lips. Over and over this object was being jabbed into my lips trying to get into my mouth.
"I need to take your temperature. You're sick." - Issac
"I'm fine. Let me sleep."
Back into a deep sleep..................................
"Wake up. Here's some orange juice. You need to drink it because it has vitamins that will make you better. You're sick." - Issac
I set the glass of orange juice on my stomach and went back to sleep. (I set a glass of orange juice on my stomach and went back to sleep....let that sentence sink in for a minute.) When I woke up several hours later the orange juice was on a stand across the room and everyone had gone to bed.
I wrote the above story about Issac several years ago and it has been sitting here waiting to be published for forever. I knew that it was a moment I didn't want to forget and so I wrote it down right away. It's easy to think about how much we do for our others, but how often do those small things that others do for us (like the above story) get overlooked? We want to think that we're not keeping track of those things, but is that true? Is it ok to keep track? Are we failing as Christians if we keep a mental record of the things we do for others? What if it's not a mental note, but we're actually writing down (making a physical note of) our good deeds?
Failing - absolutely not! It may not be our shining moment, but it sure doesn't make us failures. But is it ok or should we be ashamed of ourselves for that little pat on the back?
_____________________________________
We do Random Acts of Christmas Kindness every year and we never do it the same way. One year we sat down each night and wrote down each RACK on a piece of paper. Another year we added tally marks to a piece of poster board and watched the number grow all month long. We were not only making mental notes about our kind acts, but we were putting pen to paper and creating a physical record. Many years we've completed the task and gone on with our day with no record of what we did.
It makes me feel good. It encourages me. It reminds me that I have the power to make a difference. I prefer the years that we have made a physical record of those good deeds. My favorite was the year we hung each act of kindness up on the Christmas tree. We filled our tree with people that we hoped we had made a positive impact on. Coming home each night and seeing that tree full of random acts of kindness was good for me. I did something for someone else and I wrote it down. I still look back on those cards every year...and I'm not ashamed of it at all. I give myself a pat on the back and think about who I'm going to give a R.A.C.K. to this year.
That is one time of year when I enjoy keeping track of my good deeds. And it works for me and my family. My kids are more motivated when we come together every night and share our stories. We get ideas from each other and it encourages us to go out and do more the next day. I am not ashamed of this at all, and I will continue to encourage my kids to write down those acts of kindness if that helps them stay motivated.
What about the opposite? Do we keep a record of the good things others do for us? I can not even tell you how many times I have started a journal that I'm going to use exclusively for writing down the sweet little things Troy does. I have numerous notebooks laying around my house that are filled with good intentions, yet remain blank. In fact I have one in my purse right now for that very purpose and it still does not have anything written in it. It's not because Troy hasn't done anything that deserves to be remembered, it's just because I suck at taking the time to write those things down.
It's so much easier to take some time out of our day to remember all the good things I did instead of spending that same time remembering what good things others did for me. I'm ready to change that and this blog helps me. When I start making note of those moments of sweetness throughout the day it becomes easier and easier to spot all those little happy moments. And those little happy moments add up to one amazing life.
Let's take the time to realize how amazing our lives really are.
I felt something poking my face, specifically my lips. Over and over this object was being jabbed into my lips trying to get into my mouth.
"I need to take your temperature. You're sick." - Issac
"I'm fine. Let me sleep."
Back into a deep sleep..................................
"Wake up. Here's some orange juice. You need to drink it because it has vitamins that will make you better. You're sick." - Issac
I set the glass of orange juice on my stomach and went back to sleep. (I set a glass of orange juice on my stomach and went back to sleep....let that sentence sink in for a minute.) When I woke up several hours later the orange juice was on a stand across the room and everyone had gone to bed.
I wrote the above story about Issac several years ago and it has been sitting here waiting to be published for forever. I knew that it was a moment I didn't want to forget and so I wrote it down right away. It's easy to think about how much we do for our others, but how often do those small things that others do for us (like the above story) get overlooked? We want to think that we're not keeping track of those things, but is that true? Is it ok to keep track? Are we failing as Christians if we keep a mental record of the things we do for others? What if it's not a mental note, but we're actually writing down (making a physical note of) our good deeds?
Failing - absolutely not! It may not be our shining moment, but it sure doesn't make us failures. But is it ok or should we be ashamed of ourselves for that little pat on the back?
_____________________________________
We do Random Acts of Christmas Kindness every year and we never do it the same way. One year we sat down each night and wrote down each RACK on a piece of paper. Another year we added tally marks to a piece of poster board and watched the number grow all month long. We were not only making mental notes about our kind acts, but we were putting pen to paper and creating a physical record. Many years we've completed the task and gone on with our day with no record of what we did.
It makes me feel good. It encourages me. It reminds me that I have the power to make a difference. I prefer the years that we have made a physical record of those good deeds. My favorite was the year we hung each act of kindness up on the Christmas tree. We filled our tree with people that we hoped we had made a positive impact on. Coming home each night and seeing that tree full of random acts of kindness was good for me. I did something for someone else and I wrote it down. I still look back on those cards every year...and I'm not ashamed of it at all. I give myself a pat on the back and think about who I'm going to give a R.A.C.K. to this year.
That is one time of year when I enjoy keeping track of my good deeds. And it works for me and my family. My kids are more motivated when we come together every night and share our stories. We get ideas from each other and it encourages us to go out and do more the next day. I am not ashamed of this at all, and I will continue to encourage my kids to write down those acts of kindness if that helps them stay motivated.
What about the opposite? Do we keep a record of the good things others do for us? I can not even tell you how many times I have started a journal that I'm going to use exclusively for writing down the sweet little things Troy does. I have numerous notebooks laying around my house that are filled with good intentions, yet remain blank. In fact I have one in my purse right now for that very purpose and it still does not have anything written in it. It's not because Troy hasn't done anything that deserves to be remembered, it's just because I suck at taking the time to write those things down.
It's so much easier to take some time out of our day to remember all the good things I did instead of spending that same time remembering what good things others did for me. I'm ready to change that and this blog helps me. When I start making note of those moments of sweetness throughout the day it becomes easier and easier to spot all those little happy moments. And those little happy moments add up to one amazing life.
Let's take the time to realize how amazing our lives really are.
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