Share Your Plenty in Twenty-Twenty
It seems to me that one way we can improve out world is to look outward, get out of the way, stop the entitlement game we too often play, and think creatively about how we can improve our world.
We read of increasing suspicion, political rivalry, the “me-first” attitudes, the competitiveness, the “get it for cheap even though it cripples businesses,” the negativity which dominates cable news, and the downright rudeness and self-centered attitudes we see all around us. Isn’t it time we people of faith and goodwill say, “enough is enough” and “let’s do something about this to make the world a more charitable place”?
Will you join me in practicing one kind act a day? Will you share your resources, or even a smile with someone who is hurting? Can we unite in giving rather than taking? Can we cancel our “me first attitudes and balance them with thinking generously or compassionately about someone else today?
Here are some ideas I’m having.
- Pay something toward the bill of the person behind you in line
- When tempted to dash into the nearest parking place at the store, look for someone who needs it more than you do: the elderly, the mom with children, the person who is obviously running late
- Take a bouquet of flowers, or even a single rose to a widower or widow or shut in
- Make soup for a friend with a cold or the flu
- Offer to drive someone to the doctor appointment and sit with that person. Waiting rooms are harsh places, especially when someone is worried, afraid, or alone
- Make extra portions of meals, freeze them, and look for opportunities to share with those who have to cook meals for one day in and day out. It gets old and very lonely sometimes.
- Take someone with you to concerts, trips to the zoo, or walks in the park
- Invite others to play table games some afternoon
- Take a baby doll to someone with dementia
- Encourage fostering children or adoption
- Keep sending cards to recent widows every time you think of their names, or call them to chat
- Cut someone’s lawn or weed a garden
- When you’re going shopping, call someone with health issues to see what you can pick up for them, then visit that person
- Read to someone who can’t see well
- Support a charity or fundraiser with the extra change you keep in your penny jar
- Pray for everyone you know, President and cabinet members, mayors, school personnel, anyone who carries burdens for others and immense responsibility
- Offer to help at charity events or outreaches to those who need help
- Be an encourager. Cut the griping, the critical attitude, the judgments, the hautiness, the self-centeredness
- Be the first to volunteer and give it your all
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