As we prepare for this Christmas season, it will be easy to get caught up in the secular meaning of Christmas. To prepare for family gatherings, to go shopping and make sure we have gifts for everyone. We spend a ton of time decorating our houses.
Many believers will take the time to attend the extra church services, to give a little extra, adopt a family for Christmas and so many other great acts of service.
These are all great things and I encourage everyone to continue these activities. But I wanted to share something that we can do consciously every day, something small that takes very little time away from our already busy schedules. But it’s something that can make a huge difference in peoples lives, including your own.
Intentionally Bless Someone Every Day
This can sound scary or overly complicated. In reality in can be something as small as a hello or a smile to a stranger on the street. Could be telling a child that you like their shoes or that it is a cool shirt they are wearing. Asking someone if you could say a quick little prayer over them. Praying for people on your drive to work. Pay for the person behind you in the drive-thru.
Don’t forget those in your own home. Thank your spouse for something they do for you (probably something they do everyday). Tell your children you love them. Or that they look nice today. Or that they did a great job on a small chore you asked them to do. Call your parents, just to talk.
I could go on and on, but the point is to intentionally bless people that you meet everyday.
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
James 1:27
Religion is not about ceremonies or rules. Religion is about how we care for those in need. How we treat those that cross our paths everyday. How we give back from the blessings that God has given to us.
Let me share a quick story. Years ago, my wife and I were coming back to Christ and looking for a church home. Some friends had invited us to visit the church they attend, they church that later became known as Rivertree Jackson. On the Sunday morning, we walked into the church, a large church with a couple thousand in attendance over a weekend, into the atrium and stood looking for our friends. Before we could find them, a gentleman walked up to us and shook our hands, welcomed us and pointed us in the direction of the coffee. A simple encounter that truly made us feel welcome.
We grabbed our coffee, found our friends and went into the service. When the service began and the pastor walked on stage, we realized that the man who had greeted us was the same man who had welcomed us to the church. See my wife grew up in a Catholic church, I in a very conservative, old school Protestant church where the priests were seen as more elite and it would have been a real stretch for them to truly greet people and point them towards the coffee. Both of our experiences growing up were that church was not a welcoming place, especially for newcomers.
This intentional blessing of us, but simple welcoming us to the church had a huge impact. The pastor probably doesn’t even remember that day as it was probably quite ordinary to him. To us, it is etched into our memories and has truly impacted us in so many ways.
What I hope has been obvious from this post, is that a simple, very small blessing can have a huge impact on those being blessed. What we give back to God, God will make grow exponentially.
I wrote a few years back this post on How to Change the World. The small things you do, truly can change the world.
Be intentional.
Exceptional Christian 