Many times during the holiday season as we were buying more, going more and doing more, I would think to myself we have enough already. We have been blessed tremendously and for those blessings, I am thankful. These thoughts along with a desire to radiate Christ's love, left me with an idea: a year of service.
Some of my fondest memories surrounding Christmas as a child (probably around K.C.'s age) involve going with the youth group from my parents' church (my parents led the youth at this time) to shop for a needy family at Christmas. It was so much fun to be in the mix with the teenagers as they searched for clothes, toys and needed items for families. It was even more exciting to see the look of joy on the faces of children and adults when we delivered beautiful packages to them and gave them a Christmas.
Of course, Christmas isn't about presents, but it is about a Gift. It's about the greatest Gift ever given and that's the Gift of our Lord, Jesus Christ, who was born, died and rose again to give us eternal life if we only trust in Him. This great Gift makes me want to share and the memories of all those Christmases shopping and delivering gifts to those in need makes me yearn for that feeling again.
I'm typically not one to talk about what I may do or give to others, but each month this year I am committing to do some type of service for someone or an organization. It may be as little as paying it forward at the drive thru or it may be donating items and time or even being that "behind the scenes" person who helps things happen. Regardless, I want to serve this year.
This project, which I'll call Service 2014, is something that I am deeply passionate about. It's something that I can do alone, with my family and with my friends. It's also a fun tool that can be used to teach our boys about giving back. Would you like to join me in this journey?
Each month, on the last Friday of the month, I'll host a link up where we can share our service for the month. This link up will serve as an encouragement to others to continue serving and give us all some ideas of things to do to serve. I'll also use #service2014 to keep track of those things we do.
I can't wait to see what ways we'll serve this year!
Labels: #service2014
