22/08/2012
Random Acts and A Blessed Birthday Buzz*
Every year birthday’s roll around and every year they pass by. Some are a gathering of family and friends, some are a day of spoiling with presents, some are filled with adventures and outings, some are celebrated with parties and indulgence, some are simply skipped over uneventfully. They all come, and they all go. I have a hard time remembering most of those past birthday’s …. Don’t you?
However, I have a feeling I will remember this birthday for many years to come. I am still buzzing from it…
I am blessed by a wonderful life, truly. I have a fabulous family and wonderful cherished friends, time has proven to me their love, through their acceptance, loyalty, compassion, help in times of need, encouragement, forgiveness, apologies, companionship and the like. I have Health, Faith, & Love, and I have many more ‘things’ than I will ever need.. I could go on…but I know ‘Gag’ right! ๐
So, God guided me to give back….
After reading this post by a fellow blogger, I was inspired, actually that is an understatement. Seeing this list gave me heaps of ideas of how to share joy and kindness with people from my community.
I sent an email to family and friends asking for them not to buy me a gift this year. I told them I would be spending the day doing Random Acts of Kindness and if they wanted to get involved then great, just know I am passing on all gifts to others.
My Husband and I and our 2 gorgeous girls spent an amazing day together. We planned enough Random Acts to cover one for each year of my life but it ended up being more, thanks to all those who contributed.
We started the day with a family prayer thanking the Lord for His abundance of love and blessings to us, and asking for His guidance to those who needed these acts of kindness the most.
With that we were out the door….
I can’t even begin to describe the joy that came from seeing the smiles on peoples faces and the sparkle in their eyes, although some we hid from (like the man who’s fuel we paid for).
I loved the look on the face of the gorgeous teenage boy whoย was more than shocked by this crazy lady running up to give him an Itunes voucher, we chased him because he raised his hand in thanks as we stopped the car to let him cross at a zebra crossing. I was overcome by his unexpected manners.
The volunteers at the Salvation Army enjoyed their muffins perfectly timed for morning tea, along with bags of donated books, clothes and shoes.
The police lady asked “Are you sure?’ when I handed her a box of warm doughnuts along with my gratitude for her service to others.
The lady at the ‘Information Counter’ in the local shopping centre had the most amazing sparkle in her eyes for receiving a simple coffee voucher and a thank you for her constant helpfulness.
We became hungry to find that sparkle in the eyes of others, it was so addictive!ย
We gave a Coffee Club voucher to every security guard and cleaner we saw, thanking them for keeping our suburb a nicer place to live.
We gave out gift cards to people doing their weekly shopping and surprised small children with helium balloons.
We gave a beautiful lady a voucher to buy food for her seeing eye dog and I was not prepared for her reaction “You have no idea how much I needed to hear that today” she said and hugged me tight for a very long time, I left her with tears streaming down my cheeks.
It warmed our hearts to watch our children explaining their gift to all these random people, they thoroughly enjoyed the day as well, we are all still buzzing.
Our motive was simple…
“God has blessed us so much in our life so we want to pass that on to others. You are special and appreciated and loved from above. May God bless you as much as He has us!”
There were other acts, I won’t explain them all, If you would like more ideas please visit this post. I just wanted to share that it was a truly wonderful day, one which I wasn’t planning on writing about, I just can’t shake the hope that someone else may join me in feeling this much love and joy! I hope you are inspired to try this for yourselves. You will never regret it! Please share your Random Acts stories with me in the comments section, I would love to hear of them.
Opening presents is nice and all, and indulging on food and drink and a good time is fun, but I tell you this, it doesn’t even come close to how wonderful it felt to engage lovingly with others, and to give, and to be thankful! God is So Good! Praise His Name!
closefamilies said,
22/08/2012 at 9:52 am
Oh my goodness, Ive never heard of a family doing this sort of thing together!!! How LOVELY!!!! This is so inspiring. I’m definitely adding this kind of day to our to-do list. God is looking down and smiling at you and your family, His children, serving Him and shouting praise to His name to others in such a thoughtful way. โค
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The Water Bearer said,
22/08/2012 at 9:56 am
Thank you sweet Sister. Make sure you come back and let me know. I would love to hear how you went. ๐
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closefamilies said,
22/08/2012 at 6:17 pm
My hubby doesn’t seem very keen on the idea… He has a bit of a fear of crowds and people in general… So I asked his sister! ๐ I will let you know how it goes!!
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The Water Bearer said,
22/08/2012 at 6:34 pm
My Husband was happy to watch us do the acts and drive us about. We had breakfast as a family and He watched us give people vouchers for their breakfast too. He was happy enough with that. Can’t wait to hear how it all pans out. ๐
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closefamilies said,
24/08/2012 at 1:56 am
Thats a good idea. I think he might go for that! ๐
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The Water Bearer said,
24/08/2012 at 8:02 am
My Hubby was buzzing too, it really was a special day!
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A Prophetic Walk said,
22/08/2012 at 1:53 pm
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS!!!
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Reality Of Christ said,
22/08/2012 at 2:23 pm
Wow! What an awesome thing to do on a birthday!! I’m inspired!
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The Water Bearer said,
23/08/2012 at 8:52 am
I’m glad you are, and thanks for your encouragement ๐
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George Hayward said,
22/08/2012 at 10:20 pm
Good for you! What a great way to spend a birthday!
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The Water Bearer said,
23/08/2012 at 8:50 am
Thanks George, It really was the best way to spend the day…Just passing on the buzz lol
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Sherri Strickland said,
23/08/2012 at 12:48 am
That’s so lovely. I want to do it! We must both be Leo’s – my birthday was this month, I had people bring items for the dog shelter instead of gifts.
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The Water Bearer said,
23/08/2012 at 8:47 am
That is a lovely idea! Good on you! From one Leo to another..Happy Birthday! ๐
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nature789 said,
23/08/2012 at 8:59 am
What a way to worship God and show appreciation for your life! You are an inspiration and very blessed. Thank you for this post, my birthday is Sept 2 and I’m going to do this even if my husband decides not to.
God bless you and your family xxoo
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The Water Bearer said,
23/08/2012 at 9:06 am
Aww Thank you so much Sweet Tj..I am so glad you want to try this..It was really worthwhile..Be warned though, the enemy did not want us to do this, There was discomfort, confusion, skepticism and anxiety leading up to it…But Praise God we just pushed through! Bless you and your family also!!
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nature789 said,
23/08/2012 at 10:24 am
I will be on my toes for spiritual warfare, I almost forgot about that!
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The Water Bearer said,
23/08/2012 at 10:28 am
As I often do too…We must keep on that Armour Yes! Sisters in Arms… I Like that! ๐
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stuartart said,
14/01/2013 at 7:07 pm
What a great day out for a family. I can imagine the fun of thinking up all these ideas too. Great share – thank you. I’ll post the 38 acts on my own blog now to be a catalyst for ideas. ๐
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The Water Bearer said,
14/01/2013 at 7:08 pm
Awesome! It was truly the BEST day! ๐
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