What Is It Really About? - In The Community (Part 2)

***Farm Hunting Update - Cold Feet!!  That about sums up the last couple of days for me.  Lately when I start thinking about what we are doing, I almost can't breath!  What in the world are we thinking leaving the safety of our little house here?  Leaving our neighbors, friends, doctors, pharmacy, grocery store, dentist??!!

I have found myself thinking "Oh, maybe the appraisal won't go through!!  Then we don't have to move."  Shame on ME!!

God has a plan and with that plan, He provides the strength.  Not only to get through the process (which involves a lot of waiting and unknowns, which I DON'T like!), but He will also provide new doctor's, new grocery stores, and the knowledge we need to raise our family where He leads.

So I am taking a lot of deep breathes lately!!  And a lot of praying!!***

What Is It Really About? - In The Community (Part 2)

Before I so rudely got sick and had to miss a day, we were looking at how to celebrate our Christmas purpose in the community.  Today I want to show and tell you about our Christmas Kindness Countdown.

I got the idea somewhere in the wild blue yonder of the Internet several years ago.  Some people call it Random Acts of Christmas Kindness. 

My brother teased me last year when I called it that because he said it wasn't so random when I planned it a couple of months in advance!  Gotta love advice from little brothers!!

Anyway, it is an advent calendar of sorts.  Each day we go and pull an activity card.  On the card is listed a way that we can serve the community.  Here is a picture of last year's:

We cut little borders out, glued them on the cute brown bags and put in a card.  The card contained a verse and listed something that we wanted to share with the community that day.  The cards we used last year looked like this:

So every morning, during breakfast, one of the girls would pull the card out for that day, and read the verse and activity.  Then sometime during the day, we would go out together and serve in whatever manner listed.

This year, being that we are in the middle of packing and moving, I needed a countdown that was easy to move.  We talked and thought, thought and talked, looked on the Internet at ideas, and thought and talked again, and this is what we came up with:

We took two 12 X 12 pieces of scrapbooking cardstock paper, attached them with ribbon and the added the small pockets.  The pockets were cut from patterned scrapbooking paper and then the girls and I hand-sewed them onto the brown base.

Our stitches are no-where near perfect, but we had a good time doing it and I know that ever single stitch that went into it was full of love and excitement about serving our community!

The next thing you do is make a list of 24 activities that in some way or another serve your community.  Most of ours cost little to no money, but there are some that we have had to save up for in order to do. 

Some examples of our activities are

1. Drive through your neighborhood and pick 4 houses to stop and pray for.  Then sneak up to their door and tape a Christmas Kindness card and candy cane on it.
2. Write a letter to a US soldier serving overseas.
3. When you are eating out leave an extra, extra large tip along with a Christmas Kindness card.
4. Make a dessert tray for Daddy to bring to work and share.
5. Go to Dollar Tree and tape 5 baggies somewhere in the toy isle.  Each baggie should contain $1 and a Christmas Kindness card.
6. Gather food for a food pantry and deliver.  Call ahead and see if they need any help sorting.
7. Bring a $5 Starbucks gift card to a Salvation Army bell ringer.
8. Collect food and various products for the local animal shelter and drop them off.
9. Write a letter to the local police department thanking them for their work.
10. Buy 10 Starbucks $5 gift cards and hand them out at the mall to random people.

There are many more that you can come up with, the list is endless!  If you have not had the time to save money and can't do some of the more costly ones, keep your activities within your current budget.  There are so many ways to serve that you can always come up with 24 to fit any budget.

This year our cards had to be a bit smaller so they look like this:

We don't have the room to write the verses out, so we will be looking them up!

One tip that I have learned over the years is to really plan which days you want to do each activity before you stick them in the calendar.  If you have plans all afternoon one day, you might want to do one of the activities that takes less time.  If you know you will have a large expenditure that week or need more time to save for some of the more costly activities, schedule ones that cost little to nothing.

I have also started keeping a master list so that I know which activities are coming up!  This helps with the budgeting and time planning too.

Last year we were blessed so greatly by doing these activities.  When we went to the mall to hand out the Starbucks cards and I was amazed at the kindness that a little $5 gift card brought out in others.  After people got over the initial shock of realizing that we wanted to give this to them, expecting nothing in return, they would often share things about their lives with us.  They always went away with a smile and a prayer of blessing.

Another one that was really neat was when we gave the Starbucks card to the Salvation Army bell ringer.  We actually had a lot of trouble finding a bell ringer to give it to.  There was not one at our local grocery store, we drove around the local outdoor mall and could not find anyone.  Finally, driving back home we had to stop at the store.  Then we saw someone there.  She was definitely NOT there 10 minutes before, but we parked, prayed that the Lord would use the gift in the way He saw fit and we took her the card. 



She started to cry and thank us profusely for the gift.  We then went into the grocery store to pick up what we needed, checked out and headed to our car.  Our entire time in the grocery store was not more than 10 minutes.  When we headed out, she was no where to be seen.  The red bucket was gone along with any trace of the lady.  We joked that the Lord transported the person that He wanted to receive the gift from another location!!  :)

You see, in my experience, I have found people receive in different ways.  Sometimes others receive our service in kindness and thankfulness, like when we handed out the Starbucks cards.  Other times people receive it with hostility, or they refuse to receive it at all. 

But you see, our task is not to make them receive it in one way or another, it is just to give and serve all for His glory.  Our reward is not in the smiles and thankfulness of the people, but in the knowledge of the fact that our Saviour can look down on us and say ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ Matthew 25:21.