Hello, everyone! I’m so excited about talking to you today because of what today’s blog represents. My goal is to devote each Wednesday as the day we concentrate our efforts on cultivating our character and appreciating our worth as we focus our attention on valuing others. You know how it is – sometimes you hear bad news or witness some tragedy in someone else’s life but feel ill-equipped to contribute to improving or solving their situation. Perhaps you just happened to walk past someone wishing there was something you could have done in that moment to make a difference in his or her life. Well, we are going to use Wednesdays as our day to challenge ourselves and one another to look harder at who we are, and discover our hidden potential as we offer ourselves to God. We are going to commit to allowing Him to pour Himself out through us and into the lives of His overlooked jewels who may have lost the beauty of His love amid the ashes in their lives. We are going to focus our attention and efforts on helping to make someone else’s heart smile by contributing something to them from our own lives. Whether it’s a smile, a dollar, or a polite conversation, we are going to intentionally invest in others.
Last week I went into McDonalds to pick up a quick bite for my family. Well, the fast food order was taking on the pace of a typical Thanksgiving Day feast. As I stood by the counter waiting to receive my turkey…I mean my burgers, a tall, young man walked up to the register, pulled out a crinkled dollar and asked for a value size order of fries. Immediately, I sensed the urge to give him some money. I opened my purse and pulled out a $10.00 bill and without looking at him, carefully slipped it into his hands. I totally caught the poor fellow off guard because he looked at me like, “Am I being punked?” I simply smiled, looked away, and continued to wait for my food. He turned around and walked away. I never turned around to make contact with him again because I had accomplished my mission. The goal of my small gesture was to let him know that someone saw him and cared about him. It really wasn’t about the money. He may not have even needed it but at that moment my small token sent a positive message to him, and that message was that his presence and his life are significant.
Have you ever been a stranger in a crowded place and longed to be seen? You didn’t feel a need for attention as much as you craved a reminder from someone that you matter. Well, that’s what I want What Do You Have to Give Wednesdays to be all about. I’m not going to ask you necessarily to give someone money but to find someone you don’t know or someone you haven’t kept in touch with, and give them something that will just reinforce to them the notion that they matter…that we are all in this life together, facing obstacles and experiencing miracles as we go.
When I handed that young man money from my purse, my contribution felt no less powerful than if I had been mega-philanthropist, Bill Gates paying for underprivileged youth to attend Ivy League universities. I hadn’t had as much to give as I might have liked. I couldn’t buy him a new car or pay his way through college, but I could pay for him to purchase a meal or buy some new undies. Only God knows what the young man did with the money. The point is that I gave my money the type of vision that I could feel good about. I patted myself on the back not because I gave him money but because I prioritized him above myself. Imagine what will happen when all of us commit to doing the same. Imagine how much small gestures like the one I just described can change our communities and the world at large.
Can you see it? Good, now it’s your turn! What do you have to give today? Who will be reminded that they matter because you were tenacious enough to touch their lives?
I can’t wait to hear your stories so get moving and then come back here and share them with me.
Have an awesome day!
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