200

I know that it isn't such a huge thing, but this is post number 200. To me, that's a sign that I've stuck with this when its been easy and when its been tough. I think some posts have been pretty good and I know some have been pretty poor, but I've kept going. To me, that's something to celebrate. What accomplishments (small or large, significant or not so much) do you have to celebrate?

Snow Days

Every kid loves snow days. Waking up and seeing those fluffy white flakes falling filled us with excitement. We'd run downstairs and turn on the TV to watch the news - the only time it might say something we cared about. Inevitably, the alphabetical listings would be just past the name of our school, so we'd switch channels in the hope that one of the others would have better timing. Once we'd cycled through all of them, we'd eventually wind up sitting and waiting, figuring out in our heads if Lakeland school district came before or after Lake-Lehman.

Finally, we'd see those magic words scroll across the bottom of the screen: Lake-Lehman School District CANCELLED. Delight. Excitement. Bliss. Sure, it might mean an extra day of school at the end of the year, but that feels like years from now. And now we had a whole day just for us. We could sled, we could build, we could fight. It was ours to do with what we wanted. It was a change from the day-in day-out drudgery of life. It was a gift.

As you grow older, snow days lose that luster. We think about tomorrow, and what we'll have to make up. We think about the traffic and the shoveling and the ice and the salt. Gone is the child-like wonder. Instead of thinking of the day as a gift, it becomes a burden.

When we are young, we know how to have fun. We know how to live in the moment. We know we were made to play and we jump at the chance. As we grow up, responsibility sets in and starts to take over. We lose touch with that playful innocence, we drift from the wonder and from living in the moment.

We were created with a purpose. Each day when we wake up there is possibility. This might be a day where I get to be who I was created to be. This might be a day where I can do what I was created to do. The signs will be less subtle than fluffy white flakes falling from the sky and no one will announce it on the news, but with God the possibility exists. The excitement is up to us.

Make my day

What do you take for granted? What is so commonplace for you that you don't give it a second thought? What are you so used to that it is simply a part of your day-to-day existence?

Someone (maybe someone you know), somewhere (probably closer than you think) doesn't have it.

This week someone came to me with some Bengals tickets that they simply couldn't use. They are season ticket holders and they can't make it to the game after Christmas. Unfortunate, but not life-changing. After all, they've got tickets to all the games anyway. Instead of giving the tickets to one of their close friends, they asked if I could find someone who could really use them. With the help of the folks at Parkside's outreach I did. And it will be one of the best Christmases in their memory. Because of something someone else takes for granted.

This week at Panera they made an extra sandwich. Instead of dumping it in the trash, they gave it to my wife and made her Wednesday.

This morning at Strabucks someone was rewarded with a free cup of coffee and it made their morning.

Make someone's Christmas this year, it might be easier than you think.