How to Be a Blessing Every Day for a Month
"Ninety Days of Blessing" is in progress--a call to each of us to "be a blessing."
On May 15, we celebrated Pentecost Sunday and the Global Day of Prayer. The Global Day of Prayer draws together millions around the world to pray. But that’s just the beginning. Each child of God is then challenged to be a blessing for Ninety Days of Blessing to the nations.
Or to your city or neighborhood or neighbor.
You can get involved in ongoing efforts to bless others, such as being a foster parent or helping at a homeless shelter or mentoring an at-risk kid or joining the effort to fight slavery and trafficking. And you can do small things each day to be a blessing to someone you love, know or just encounter.
Here is a month’s worth of "be a blessing" ideas to get you started. Be intentional. Think about which of these, or other ideas you have, you could do each day. After 30 days, repeat twice. Not only will you bless 90 people, or more, but you will form a habit of blessing as you go.
Thirty easy ways to be a blessing:
Take a meal to a sick friend.
Talk to a homeless person. Ask his name and how his journey brought him to this place. And give some money or food or a gift card.
Ask a person about her story—and listen to her tell it.
Write a note—handwritten—telling someone how much you appreciate him. Be specific.
Do some grocery shopping for an elderly friend.
Say “God bless you” to store clerks.
Hold a surprise party for a special birthday, or a big celebration, or just to do it.
Shop at a thrift store—to bless yourself and those the charity serves.
Share your garden flowers or produce with neighbors.
Read to a blind person.
Volunteer at an after school program.
Mow the lawn for someone who is sick.
Make a pot of soup—for your family and to share with a neighbor.
Volunteer to drive an elderly or disabled person to an appointment.
Genuinely compliment someone who might not hear too many compliments.
Smile at a stranger.
Pray for a friend in a hard place.
Sit with a person who has suffered a great loss.
Sing to a feverish child.
Stoop down to talk with a child at her level.
Call that person you have been meaning to call.
Offer to do laundry for a mom with young children.
Offer to keep a sick child so Mom can go to work.
Invite someone to go to church with you.
Give a hug to a discouraged friend.
Do online research for someone who can’t do it herself.
Teach your grandfather how to use Facebook or Instagram.
Offer to reach the back of the shelf for a shorter person at the grocery store.
Host a neighborhood potluck.
Walk your neighborhood and pray for those who live in each home.
Be blessed as you bless others.What about you? Who/what has blessed you?
C2016 Judy Douglass
Related posts: