Kindness Counts Fridays - Gifts from Above

Linking up with Helen at iwillbloom.wordpress.com for Kindness Counts Friday - on Saturday morning!

Although I do look for kindnesses I can give, or those I read about online - and seem to always be receiving kindnesses from others...

I haven't kept up enough to do the Kindness Counts Fridays!  But, since I have some written in my "Blessings Book", I wanted to share again this week!  So, here goes:


Kindness Given:

• Feeling blessed, and able to do so (to a certain extent), I decided to "pay it forward" and pay for the person's order in back of me at Wendy's...theirs was more than I expected, but doing some quick figuring, decided I was still able to pay for it!  Felt really good as I drove away - and would love to have seen their faces when the cashier told them!
• Offered to meet a friend who lives about an hour away so I could pick up some hand-made cards for a card swap we were doing.  She was going to be working about 25 minutes from my home (about 12 miles); not really far...but I was going to my daughter's house that is about 15 miles in the opposite direction.  But I had the time, and met her before heading to my daughter's.  (See Part 2 below in Kindness Received).

Kindness Received:

• My daughter picked me up so we could go shopping together - for a few things she needed for her house, since she is "redecorating"!  We ended up going where I needed to go and she bought me a night shirt and a shirt for my husband (her step-father)!  She also bought me lunch...and we never did get to the places she needed to go before she had to leave and pick up her son from school!
• The friend I met above in Kindness Given gave $20 towards my fee for the Puppy Crop that is coming up.  Not being able to attend, and very supportive of the organization, she wanted to do that as a thank you for coming out of my way to meet her.
• And, after paying that $20 plus $10 more I had put aside - I was only $27.00 away from paying the balance...and was told somebody else had paid my balance.

I don't always feel worthy of these kindnesses that are given to me...I am me and I share "my life and my struggles" with my friends, once I feel I can.  They in turn want to bless me by "giving" of their resources, whether it be "things" they know I can use (scrapbooking stuff!) or money towards events we all enjoy doing.  Yet, I still feel unworthy of these blessings...

Perhaps...knowing this...I will realize whose I am and that I am worthy of receiving the blessings He gives me through others!

Found Online:

A friend of mine, in the beginnings of cancer diagnosis and treatment, shares his journey on Facebook to give encouragement and inspiration to all of his friends.  He shared two acts of kindness the other day:

• At the parking lot of a large retail store, he spotted an "older lady" trying to get a new vacuum cleaner out of the shopping cart and into her vehicle; after finally convincing her to let him help, she stepped aside for his assistance.  He placed the item into the vehicle and thanked her for "letting me help."  She just stood there smiling and said, "I should be thanking you!"
• Then later, as he approached a stop sign, another "older lady" with a walker was waiting to cross the street.  He stopped and motioned for her to cross, but she was afraid to go.  So, he put the car in park, stepped out of the car and asked her to please cross the street!
• And, I can't pass up the opportunity to share the love and support and encouragement I have seen on the blogging groups - Together We {Blog} has welcomed some new people; a couple of them young and unsure of sharing have expressed that uncertainty - and received so much encouragement for others!  Not only do we blog together...but we love and share together!

Each of these acts of kindness did not take long to do.  Each one provided an act of kindness to someone in need; and provided an inter-change between two strangers, each leaving with smiles on their faces and made them feel good, knowing someone else cared for their well-being, and nothing was expected in return.

Thank you, God, for the gifts - the blessings or kindnesses - that you give to each of us!!

I will continue to look for Acts of Kindness around me - observing, giving, receiving, or seen online - and will join Kindness Counts Fridays again in a week or so!

Kindness Counts Friday - Received, Given, Observed

Linking up with Helen at iwillbloom.wordpress.com on this Friday the 13th for Kindness Counts Friday.

As I continue to share on Kindness Counts Fridays, I am encouraged to become more aware of the kindnesses I see around me.

But, being sick most of this week, I haven't ventured out from the apartment much...

So, here's a limited list:

Kindness Received

• My husband - yes, the one that has a hard time showing emotion or giving complements! - on one of his walks the other day, came back with a heart-shaped box of chocolates, for me!  Can you feel my surprise?!
• And...get ready for this one!  Watching TV recently, a commercial came on with Sofia Vegara and he commented about how beautiful she was.  I remarked that, yes she was beautiful; but she had plenty of money to keep herself that way!  His reply?  "Well, I think you are beautiful!"  Now, can you feel the shock?!

Since we spent most of the week together...this is the kindness that I received this week!

Kindness Given

• While at the laboratory for my husband's blood work, I was sitting among others who had been waiting for quite some time.  We learned the first time visiting that lab...make an appointment, which we did for this one!  When my husband went in just ahead of an older woman, she cut her eyes at me and kept staring, as if I had done something wrong...a couple of minutes later, she was called back; but I heard her granddaughter talking to someone on the phone that they had been waiting for over an hour!!  I started a conversation with the two remaining couples, and suggested they make appointments in the future.  When the younger couple were called back, I continued the conversation with the other couple.

This may not sound like much, but carrying on a conversation with them seemed to ease the wait time.

Kindness Observed

• The love, support, encouragement, prayers of the Facebook groups:  31 Day Survivors, Inspired Bloggers Network, FMF Party Snail Mail Rounds (4 and 5 - these are the two I've been a part of), and my blog FB Blog Page "Barbara's Journey".
• The same can be said of those who visit others' blogs and leave comments.  For me, the comments are what keep me writing; I feel the love, support, and encouragement through those comments; and when needed, I feel the prayers, too!

So, I am on the watch for Kindnesses to share next week!

Found on Pinterest

via literatureismyutopia.tumblr.com

 

Kindness Counts Friday - Giving and Receiving

Always on the look-out for something different to help jump start my writing, I first read a Kindness Counts Friday post on  iwillbloom.wordpress.com.

I have wanted to share in "Kindnesses", but held back because...



Although I am a giver, most of what I had to share were things I received!

But, after reading a "Message from God" that I found on Facebook, and wrote in my journal about, I decided to share today (better late than never, right?!)...

First, my "Message from God":

"God wants you to know that...

it's OK to receive.

Have you been the giver for so long

that you have forgotten how to receive?

Allow others to give you some of the love

that you give so freely.

Seek a balance between

your giving

and your receiving."

And I wrote that by receiving, I am allowing someone else to be the giver...

So, today I want to share a few things that I have received over the past couple of weeks:

• A scrapbooking friend, unable to attend the recent retreat I attended, paid the fee for me to be able to attend.
• Two friends bought me meals at two different occasions during the retreat: first, dinner on Saturday night, and then breakfast on Sunday morning.
• Another friend, unable to attend the Patriot Service Dogs retreat in May, wanted to sponsor someone by paying their initial fee, and chose me!

Patriot Service Dogs

Fall Retreat 2014

• Somebody at the last retreat gave me a plastic container that holds my Cricut cartridges.  They found out I needed one, and bought it from the yard sale we always have at the retreats.
• Other people give me things they have in their crafting supplies that they no longer need.
• Another friend gave me a package full of home-made cards to add to those I am using as a fund-raiser for the Patriot Service Dogs retreat.
• And, one more that I can't not publish because it is just so "outside of the norm" (for him, anyway)!  The other night I was washing dishes while hubby was watching TV; I could see it from where I was standing.  A commercial with Sofia Vegara came on and he remarked about how beautiful she was.  I said with all that money, she could afford to have "people" help her stay that way.  And he said, "Well, I think you are beautiful"...after a brief moment of shock, I thanked him!  Now, if this is the only compliment I get from him for a while, I think it will be plenty to last a lifetime! 

OK, this is enough!  I am so humbled and blessed to be part of this amazing group of ladies.  They are all loving, helpful, sharing, caring and just plain FUN to be with!

I have been on the giving end of kindnesses, too:

• Taking a friend to the clinic for her radiation treatments.
• Babysitting my daughter(s) so they can have alone time with their husband(s).  (This counts as a Kindness, doesn't it?  Even if I get the benefit of being with my grandchildren?!
• Sharing supplies at the recent scrapbooking retreat (we all do that; so I am on the receiving and the giving of that).

Seems kind of one-sided, doesn't it?!  I will be more pro-active in the giving and better at the receiving.  Perhaps next week it will be a little more evenly spread!