One Day To Give

Do you ever feel like your supposed to do something?

I don’t mean catch up on laundry or cook dinner. (Although that does fit my daily job requirement).

I’m talking about a tug, a quiet voice, a gentle urging to act, to do, to give.

When I was very pregnant with my first child, I went grocery shopping for the last time. My basket was overflowing with everything I thought I might need, you know, in case I died during childbirth or at least was paralyzed from my planned epidural. You could say I was a bit paranoid.

We lived on a Youth Pastor’s salary and seriously stretched every dollar. I’ll never forget that day at the store. I was huge and hungry. I took a pint of chocolate milk from the refrigerated section and drank the entire thing right there in the store.

I wasn’t even embarrassed that I dribbled the milk down my yellow top.

I was all about my dairy needs.

As I pushed my giant cart to the register, the cashier looked at me and said, “Someone offered to buy your entire basket of groceries.”

Excuse me? She pointed to a lady I didn’t know very well, but had seen at our church. She looked at me and said, “I’m supposed to do this.”

Her kind and generous act changed our entire month financially because that basket of groceries cost more than $200.

It also changed my attitude and reminded me that God saw every need.

I was thinking about this when I was reading Bring the Rain. I read about Angie selling her Coach purse on ebay and giving the money to charity. Her unselfishness and love for others touched me.

And so I asked myself, what could I give that means something to me?

Something personal. Something I value, given to someone else.

I’ve had a check sitting on my desk for a couple of weeks, one of my first from blog ads. I hadn’t spent it yet, because I was waiting on the perfect gift to buy. For me. I share everything with my hubby and with the needs of my three kids, so I don’t have undesignated sums of money laying around. Exactly.

So, this money was mine. To do as I pleased and I was going to buy something grand.

During the bloggy giveaway carnival, I was inundated with comments for my giveaway (a Tinkerbell Digital Player) as most blogs were. It was so fun! My laptop pinged like a slot machine with each email that came in.

But there was one comment that made me cry. I mean, call me hormonal, but it really touched me.

Oh. My. We spend hours and hours and hours driving to doctors and  

hospitals for our littlest brother.

My nine year old is bored out of her gourd through out all of this.  

But because she loves her little brother, she never complains.

The TINK would be such a welcome gift!

Thank you for the opportunity!

Okay, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to totally rig the contest. The thought crossed my mind several times, especially after I went to their family blog, Praying for Parker. 

And so, I knew what I was supposed to do with that check. I shared the story with my kids and they were very excited about surprising this little girl with something special. So, I emailed her.  

Here's her response:

I am just now getting to my email.  I read this and almost fell off of my chair!  lol!  My daughter, Kensley, would be absolutely delighted!

It is hard when you are the child just next to the one with special needs.  You go from being the baby.....to having to grow up so, so quickly.  You are asked to try and understand things that really are way beyond your reach of understanding.  

You sacrifice.  A lot.  

But her heart is so good.  I would love for her to have a Tink so that she knows her selflessness hasn't gone unnoticed nor unappreciated.

I was supposed to do that. I would have regretted it if I hadn’t.

I’m not telling you this to receive praise, actually, please, do not praise me.

One Day to Give was born out of a desire to touch someone. It doesn’t have to be monetary. You can give your time, a service, a meal or something you own.

It’s not about the what.

It’s about the why. You might change someone’s day, even their life.

And giving feels so good.

Our family is taking the challenge and I’ll be sharing what we're giving on Oct. 17. 

You have 25 days from now to do something for someone. 

Will you accept the challenge?

Come back here and link up your post. (You can link up an older post as long as it is appropriate to giving). And this isn't just for bloggers, readers can participate too.  You can share your story in the comments.

Your One Day to Give.

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