Community Service – love by the drop

Today’s Gem of Insight #81

November 25, 2014November 25, 2014Leave a comment

Today’s insight journey led me to the idea that it might be time for a gratitude challenge as the world prepares to shop its way through this holiday season. Everywhere that we turn this time of year the prevailing subject is Black Friday. In fact, with the passing of each year the Black Friday events start earlier, so much so that not only are there Black Friday events kicking off in the early evening of Thanksgiving Day, but many of them are set to begin as early as tomorrow.

A holiday that is supposed to be centered around spending time with loved ones and being thankful for the blessings of which we are aware, and many of which we have no idea, has been so overtaken by commercialization that for many people the only importance that Thanksgiving carries for them anymore is the promise of an inevitable shopping adventure that may potentially lead to discounted treasures.

Now, it is not my intention to comment on whether Black Friday is or is not appropriate; that is for each person to decide for himself or herself. What I do intend to do, though, is to make the following challenge to everyone out there: for each item that you purchase during Black Friday events, why not do something nice for someone who is not in a position to do anything nice for you in return out of gratitude for the blessings that abound in your life? Sure, it may require some extra effort, but taking the time to spread a little gratitude is more than worth it. #lovebythedrop

Today’s Gem of Insight #78

November 22, 2014November 23, 2014Leave a comment

Today’s insight journey led me to the idea that we should never underestimate the beneficial power of random acts of kindness. My guess is that most of us are accustomed, in some way or another, to doing nice things for people when we are asked to do so, whether it is acquiescing when someone asks us to wash their car, review their power point presentation in an effort to ensure that there are no errors, or even join them for lunch because they do not want to eat alone. And performing acts of kindness under those circumstances is great, in fact it’s what we are supposed to do as human beings.

However, what about times when ideas to do nice things for others who have not asked us to do anything for them come to us? What do we do in those moments? Do we quickly usher those ideas out of our minds, or do we contemplate those ideas and figure out ways to bring them to fruition. My hope is that we choose the latter more often than the former, as performing random acts of kindness for others blesses them and us at the same time. It blesses the recipients in that they are the ones who are receiving something nice. It blesses us in that it reminds us of how we, too, need assistance at times, which in turn helps us to remain humble. And it actually blesses other people who are not even directly involved by demonstrating to them the fact that love is still alive in this world, as well as providing for them an example of the power that sharing love with others possess.

So, when those ideas of nice and unsolicited things that we can do for others pop into our heads, let’s be quick to consider them and then do what it is that is in our power to do to bring them to fruition. After all, our choice to spread a little love might be the greatest blessing that those recipients have received in a long time. #lovebythedrop

Today’s Gem of Gratitude #309

April 18, 2014November 8, 2014Leave a comment

Today I am thankful for emergency services. We all encounter moments when we need urgent assistance, be it medical, police, or fire. And though many of us possess varying levels of basic knowledge concerning what needs to be done in emergency situations, there is a lot of which we are not aware, and that knowledge that we lack could mean the difference between life and death.

Thankfully, though, the majority of us have access to emergency personnel who have committed themselves to putting themselves in harm’s way in order to provide us with the urgent assistance that we need; and that is something to which everyone should have access, not just the majority.

Hopefully, those of us who reap the benefit of having access to emergency services will make it our mission to see to it that everyone in this world has access to the emergency services that they need. After all, every life is worthy of the chance to live. #lovebythedrop