F = Failure

You may or may not know that I set a challenge for myself to do 111 focused kind deeds in the last 111 days of 2010, starting on September 11th. These were to be deeds that I found that were not something that I would naturally do. I did not achieve this challenge, so I set a new challenge to do 100 deeds in the first 100 days of 2011. That ended on April 10th. Again...failure.

The fact of the matter is, as several of us discussed previously, it is difficult to find other kind deeds to do for others when you are normally inclined to help where you can, anyway. Oh, well. In a way, this challenge was a success, though, because it pointed out that we do not have to achieve everything that we attempt, and it is okay if we sometimes fail.

How many of us cause ourselves stress because we take on too much? Oftentimes, some of what we try to do is not even important.

Today I am going to try to not stress over the little things.

Tomorrow is the day when we celebrate the greatest kind deed ever done.

Monday I might have a treat for you.

Is This News?

We were at the doctor's office this morning, and CNN was playing on the television in the waiting room. We were amazed at some of the drivel that we saw. Then they played a video of a baby laughing. I said, "Wh-hat? This is news?!" Then I said, "Well...people complain that the news usually only plays bad news, so I guess this is a cute, happy thing to share.

...but wait a minute. The baby is laughing at the tearing up of a JOB REJECTION LETTER that the dad received. The man is still out of work. Unemployed. In the end, I suppose that it was still bad news being reported. 8^P

Deed 14: We were at a restaurant with the Youth Group last night, and two of us got to the line at the same time. The young man let me go first. When we were at the register, I had him order and paid for his food. He said that I did not have to do that, like a polite, young gentleman, but I insisted. (After all, I still have ninety-six deliberate kind deeds to do in the next fourty-two day!)

It Figures

You know about what I am talking.

You pick what you thought was the shorter line at the supermarket, and the cashier has to call a manager for help for the person in front of you. You watch the next line over go through three customers before the manager even gets to your cashier. It figures.

You are running late to something and seem to get every red light on the way there. It figures.

You get a telephone call and forget to take supper out of the oven, and it gets overcooked. It figures.

Something happens that is not what you wanted, and you say, "It figures."

This is one of those expressions that annoys me. Yes, it annoys me. You may ask me why it annoys me. I may ask you, "Why does it figure?!"

Is your life so miserable that it just figures when something does not go your way? Do things go wrong in your life so consistently that you just figure that that is what is going to happen?

I would be surprised if you answered, "Yes," but if you did, and if that much is truly going wrong in your life, then perhaps it is time for you to make a change.

Is it your outlook that needs to change? Is it your attitude that needs to change? Is it where you put your focus that needs to change? Is it where you put your faith that needs to change?

Personally, right now in my life, I do not think that I know anyone who has it as bad as Job had it. Job was a wealthy man. In Job 1 and 2, in one day, he had more go wrong than one might imagine could happen in one day. Job's oxen, donkeys and camels were all stolen. A fire killed all of his sheep. Did Job say, "It figures?" No. In Job 1:21b, he said, "...the Lord giveth, and the Lord has taken away."

On another day, Job was afflicted "with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head." (Job 2:7b) At this point, in verses 9 and 10:

His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!”

He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”

Wow.

This man's had a faith in the Lord that got him through the worst of times. Job lost just about everything possible, yet he maintained the right attitude and a strong faith in God. Does that make you think?

The next time that you are getting frustrated because you let someone pull out in front of you, and then you wind up getting the red light or because you are baking a cake for company in two hours and it comes out lopsided or.... When your instinct is to say, "It figures," maybe instead you can say, "Well, if that is the worst thing that happens to me today, I am doing great."

Maybe you could say, "Hey, at least I am not Job."

Oh, and if you are wondering what ever became of Job after all of that, check it out!

*******

Deed 12: We were at a restaurant this week, the kind where you take your trays back and throw away your own garbage. A group of men had left three tables with their trash on them, so I decided to clean off the tables. A friend who was with me helped me. The people working at the restaurant did not know that we did that, and that is just fine.

Deed 13: We went to the grocery store, and when we went to return our cart, I took a few minutes to gather the scattered carts and stack them neatly to make it easier for the person who would have to bring them back inside.

Deed #10, #11...New Challenge

As is my usual fashion, I blog for a while and then get distracted by life. As you may know, I have been working on a challenge to myself to do 111 kind deeds in the last 111 days of 2010. Did I do it? Well...yes and no.

There was a Friday when I was at a Christmas Bazaar at a retirement community. I brought my boxes inside and then went back out to help other people bring their products and displays into the building. Then my display got set up after I finished helping.

We had a Christmas Gift Exchange at LOTH, and one of the ladies had to bow out due to a family tragedy. That left someone else without a Secret Sister. Even though I was not participating in the exchange, I stepped in and played the part of that person's Secret Sister.

I could go on and on, and I very well may have reached my goal. However, my challenge to myself was to do kind deeds that were purposeful for this challenge, and that proved to be difficult since it

is my nature to do for others, anyway. Thus, I may also have failed at reaching my goal.

You know what they say, though: If at first you do not succeed, then try, try again.

Update to challenge! Since I have documented eleven deeds, that leaves 100 to go. My new challenge to myself will be to do 100 focused, kind deeds in the first 100 days of 2011. That makes my new deadline April 10th.

Bear in mind that the intention for this challenge is not to come on here and brag about kind deeds that have been done. The intention is to challenge myself to be more focused on other people and doing what I can to bring a smile to their faces or to help them with something or to make their lives just a little bit easier.

PS I am also going to try to get up to 100 Followers of my blog because the more people who I have holding me accountable (and encouraging me), the better I believe that my odds will be of reaching my goal!

Deed #9

There are a number of families who have made known their desire to be bombarded with Christmas cards this year. Though I do not know these families personally, what easier way could there be to add some Holiday cheer to the season for some folks?

Now the mystery of why I bought stamps at the post office last week even though we did not need them has been solved!

Deed #8

Are you one of those people who will avoid public restrooms at all costs if it is realistically possible?

I am.

I am horrified by the disgustingness of filth and germs. UGH! If I absolutely have to use a public restroom...there is no resting involved. It is stressful. I try not to touch anything. When finished, I scrub my hands like I am getting ready to perform surgery.

You might be "one of those" people, or you might not. If you are, you know that it is difficult to touch the handle to make the paper towels come out...because other people have touched it, and there might be germs. The horror!

Being on vacation this past weekend, I found myself faced with not being able to avoid using public restrooms. Since I had to suffer, anyway, I decided to try to ease the suffering of the next mysophobe who might be forced to use the public restroom after I left.

I made an effort to lower the paper towels out of the dispenser so that the next person did not have to touch the potentially dirty, germy, yucky dispenser knobs or (handles).

You may have to be "one of those people" to appreciate this. I am sure that someone did!

Deeds #6 & #7

I am so far behind that I am going to have to be doing kind deeds left and right this month to accomplish my challenge to myself. No worries, though. I can do it!

We went to the mall at NC last week, and there was a woman walking up ahead of us who had a garment bag with a big lump at the bottom. That did not seem right, so I trotted up to where she was and pointed it out to her. This deed may seem small, but even the small deeds matter to the people that they affect. The woman had apparently just bought a new sweater that did not stay on the hanger, and she was grateful that I let her know so that she could open the bag and hang the new garment properly.

Last Sunday, our pastor challenged us to actually see people. When we were at a mall at SC, I made a point to look at people and notice them. When eye contact was made, I smiled at them. I was not obnoxious or silly. I just gave a friendly smile to acknowledge them and hopefully give them a smile (since smiling is so often contagious). My observation was interesting: I think that every single person seemed to nervously turn their gaze away when they realized that I realized that we had made eye contact. I wonder why people are so nervous around...people.

Deed #5

The guys and I went to a department store on Saturday to look for some slacks for Hubby. While he went to try on the pants, Boy and I walked over the the children's section of the store to look at toys and clothes. Boy played with a few things, and then I decided that it was time to head back to find Hubby.

As Boy and I walked past a rack of clothes, I noticed that something had fallen on the floor. Instinctively, I leaned over and picked it up. Then it occurred to me that this could be a kind deed! As we walked back toward where Hubby was, I kept my eyes scanning the floor, picked up items that had fallen, and hung them back on their respective racks.

No one may have even noticed that it was done, but I felt good knowing that some employee later that day (or night) would have a little bit less work to do.

Deed #4?

Dawn and I were working a booth for Discovery Toys at a Holiday Bazaar this weekend at the Cannon School this weekend. Yesterday when I pulled into a parking space, I could see a woman, another vendor, struggling to gather all of her supplies together to carry inside in one trip. She may have needed to make two trips. It sort of looked like a comedy skit while she would add one thing to her cart and something else would fall off and then she would pick that up and another thing would fall off.

Thinking about it now, it is one of those things was probably frustrating in the moment but about which she might laugh later.

After parking my car and turning it off, I got out, walked straight toward her, and offered help. She gratefully accepted. Once we got through the doorway of the building, she said, "I can take it from here," and promptly dropped her things again. Well-choreographed comedy. I helped her get her supplies to her booth.

The reason that I put a question mark next to the title of this post is that I would have helped this woman anyway, so I am not sure if it counts for my 111 Deeds challenge to myself. I am a bit behind on my deeds, though, so I am counting it!

Deed #3

On Thursday, Boy and I went to meet some friends at Chick-fil-A for a play date. I had done temporary airbrush tattoos for a Kids Night there recently and had traded for some free food coupons.

When we were getting ready to leave, a family arrived with a little girl. I asked the (I assume) dad if they would be purchasing a Kid's Meal. He told me, "No."

Then a lady who works there asked if I needed anything. I thanked her and told her that we did not and that I had asked the guy because I had a meal coupon that I would have given him. Then the guy said something like, "Oh, if it is free...." LOL.

At that point, it did not seem like the guy appreciated it, but I gave him the free Kid's Meal card, anyway, in the hopes that it would be a happy surprise/treat for the little girl.

Deed #2

This past weekend was the Southern Women's Show at Charlotte. Lila (my upline) and I worked the show and met so many people. On Friday, as we were walking across the parking lot to enter the building, I saw three women sitting in a car. they were obviously not exhibitors, or they would not have been sitting outside waiting. Since I had some extra tickets, I walked over to the car and told

the ladies that I was going to give them a gift. It turned out that two of them already had tickets, yet they were very grateful that I gave them an additional ticket so that they could all go to the show for free.

We also met a couple on Saturday who were considering returning on Sunday. I gave them each a free ticket to return. Then the gal's mother did not want to be left out, so I gave her one, too. Hehe.

On Sunday, two gals to whom I had given tickets last weekend visited our booth at the SWS and told me how excited they are about their Discovery Toys party next week. That was a happy thing for me to hear!

Deed #1

Boy and I went outside and headed down the hill with the intention of checking the mailbox to see if there was any mail. By the time we got to the bottom of the hill, we wound up continuing across the street to the end of the neighbors' driveway where the empty garbage pail was sitting. Boy and I walked the garbage pail down their loong driveway, put it next to the house, and then walked back up the loong hill. On the way back up the driveway, we noticed that the other neighbors' garbage can was sitting at the road. We headed over there and dragged their garbage can down their even longer driveway, we parked it near the garage, and we headed back up the hill toward our mailbox and then home.

While this may not seem like a great task, these are long driveways that go downhill. Hopefully we relieved someone from doing a task that they might not enjoy doing, which gave them something about which to be happy this evening.

111 Deeds in 111 Days

September 11th marks an indescribably horrible tragedy for our country and for so many people personally. Evil attacked. Lives were impacted. Bad happened for so many.

My post today is not about the September 11th, 2001, attacks. My post is about doing good for others. I mentioned 9/11 for two reasons. One is to recognize the anniversary of this tragic event and to express compassion for those involved. The other reason is to recognize that there is bad in this world. We know that there is. However, we can add more good.

No, the majority of us probably will not have the opportunity to impact thousands of lives in one act. That does not mean that we cannot impact one life.

I am reminded of a story. Do you know the one about the starfish? I am posting a video here to share it with you. (This particular video is a recognition for teachers, but I liked it the best of all of those that I viewed on YouTube.)

While each one of us may not be able to make an impact on the masses, think of how one small act could impact even one person. Quite possibly, that person might, in turn, do something good for someone else.

"And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased." -Hebrews 13:16 NIV

Here is my challenge to myself. On September 11th, there will be 111 days left in 2010. My goal is to do 111 good deed in 111 days. Will I reach this goal by the end of the year? I certainly hope to.

I know, I know, we do kind things for one another every day, sometimes without even thinking about it. At other times, though, I suspect that we can so caught up in our own lives and experiences that we do not think of others as much as we should. For this challenge to myself, these will be purposeful and conscious tasks with the intention of making something a bit easier for someone or making someone feel a bit better about themselves or even just adding a smile to someone's face that was not there before.

So let's not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don't give up, or quit. Right now, therefore, every time we get the chance, let us work for the benefit of all, starting with the people closest to us in the community of faith. -Galatians 6:9 TM

If you would like to join me on this journey of 111, I hope that you will share what you do with me. Maybe I will get some new ideas for your good works. Until tomorrow....