Blessings

When is the last time you blessed someone? Being a blessing can be very easy. It doesn't have to be a ton of money. It can be time, effort, words, or love. It's something we often miss in our world. It's literally a 30 second thing you can do to totally make someone's day.

I recently met a family that is constantly blessing me. Mostly they use their words to share appreciation, but sometimes they make me things or cook things or just share a sweet thought. And I REALLY appreciate it. I wish more people did that.

It got me thinking of a book I read a long time ago... "One Thousand Gifts" by Ann Voskamp. The entire book is basically a challenge to find 1,000 things to be thankful for and through the process your life is changed. I started a thankful journal when I read the book, but only made it to about 200 before I gave up. I really want to start that back up again. It truly can be a life changing experience.

So on that note, I want to start being an encouragement. I recently wrote a post about feeling like a "failure" in life. And since then, not much in my life has changed in the direction that I would necessarily like, BUT I have learned (slowly, but surely) the importance of being thankful.

I am going to challenge myself again to the 1000 gifts challenge, but also to being a blessing to others. I think that goes hand-in-hand. I can't wait to see how much my attitude, mind, and life change!!

Here are some great ways to START to being a blessing to others:

• rake the neighbor's leaves
• cook a few extra pieces/plates of each meal and then deliver those to others
• LISTEN to others
• share an encouraging word with someone through text or email
• send a card/note in the mail just reminding someone you're thinking of them
• pray for others

For instance, there was a spice rub I made for some loved ones in my life. I was making the spice rub anyway for myself, so I made 1.5 times the recipe to split up for two people! They both loved it and felt loved by me. It's the little things.