25

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3:17

WAIT!

Don't ex out yet. 

I'm not trying to convert you, nor am I about to get all Jesus-loving on you. 

This is just the verse I kept in mind on my birthday when I devoted my day to performing 25 acts of kindness. 

Some for complete strangers, some for my family... 

Hands down, it was the most rewarding day of my life thus far.

I had planned this for a while, and even prayed for God to lead me to those who really needed a blessing in their lives, and I am confident that He did just that.

I took my little four year old partner in "kindness" with me, which I thought would be a really great idea, but I realized about 3/4 of the way through that it probably wasn't a wise decision. 

He couldn't hang. But I still love him!

I'm hoping that one day he will see the pictures and it will stir up a memory and he can remember how good it felt to bless the lives of complete strangers.

There was a card involved in every act. 

Some had a cutesy poem, some just said thank you, some had more. 

The cards for strangers included this Bible verse 

(just one more, I swear!!!!) 

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. James 1:17

ALRIGHT.... Here we go:

1. Our first act of kindness was leaving cookies and a thank you note in the mail box for our mailman. 

2. Next, we drove to Starbucks and paid for the woman's coffee behind us. I was SO nervous at this point for some reason, and I even had to hang out in the drive-thru to wait on someone to be behind me. 

CREEPER STATUS. 

I started to get this crazy-nervous-adrenaline feeling when the barista handed her the card, but I am confident it made her day a little brighter. 

I mean... how could it not?! Free coffee? HECK YEAH!

Next we drove to: 

And yes, you guessed it! 

3. Bought a complete strangers groceries: 

You're probably wondering... how did THAT go down?! 

It was as simple as this: I walked up to a stranger that I felt drawn to

 (remember the prayer part? WELL!! You asked)

 and I asked her if I could buy her groceries. 

Flat out, just like that. 

Yep, she thought it was weird too! 

The conversation was somewhat like this:

Sweet Stranger: "Are you kidding?!!"

Me: "No, I'm serious. Just please take this card in return."

Sweet Stranger: "Just the food right?"

That's when I was all: 

She was sweet. The joy in her eyes was incredible. 

This was definitely in my top three favorite acts of the day.

4. Dropped off cookies and a thank you note to the fire station:

   

5. Next, we went to mail sweet thank you notes to my parents for putting up with me for 25 consecutive years:

6-10. Then we drove to a place where I knew homeless people usually beg for money. Unfortunately, they were not out at the time we went there, but that's okay! After class that night I picked up the boyfriend and we drove to downtown to drop these off: 

These "blessing bags" [AHH there's that word again!] contained items like snacks, kleenex, deodorant, razor, soap, wet wipes, gum, toothpaste/toothbrush, etc.

Funny story: Before we drove to downtown, we went back to the area where I had gone in the day. When I thought we saw a panhandler I got really excited... I'm talking "THERE'S ONE!!!" (it felt like fishing) Unfortunately, this person's sign said "BEER CHANGE" and he was so drunk he could barely stand up straight.

 I decided to not give him one of the bags because I had a (probably irrational) fear that he would throw it back at me since it did not in fact contain beer change. 

And I ain't got time for that!

11. Reese and I paid for a complete stranger's lunch.

 This was in my top three moments as well. 

I was lucky enough to hear his reaction when he went to pay his bill, but I made it clear that I did not him to know that I was the one who paid. 

He was given his card and he goes, 

"What? Someone did this? You're gonna make my wife cry!" 

You best believe we busted out of that establishment like we were escaping a crime scene, because I knew if she started crying then I would start crying and totally be found out.

 Here's what they look like:

(Sorry, I could only get Mrs. in the picture because I was trying to be as stealth-mode as possible!)

12. We dropped a bunch of tulips and a card off to the mother-baby unit at a local hospital. 

I told the security guard to give it to the mother who needed it the most.

He was all: "Any of them?"

and I was all: "Yes... ANY of them!"

Now, when we were on our way in to the hospital, Reese got dirty clothes lined by a side mirror. This side mirror to be exact:

His face looked a little something like this:

Don't worry, he's fine. 

And you're probably thinking this threw a wrench in plans, but to be completely honest I could NOT stop laughing. I know that sounds really bad, but when you see a four year old get movie-style clothes lined it's kind of hard not to laugh. 

What can I say? This is now on my Christmas list: 

13. Next is my final "top three" moment, and it's my favorite because my sister is my favorite and I just love to squeeze her offsprings. 

They seriously are so cute and their cuteness causes me physical pain.

If they don't do the same for you I'm just going to straight up call you out: 

YOU HAVE NO SOUL!!!!!

Back to the story: We tracked it to Flower Mound with flowers and a card. 

Kicked my sister out and babysat for a few hours so she could have some peace and quiet.

It went something like this:

Here:

Now: 

On a completely unrelated note, why are kittens so effing cute?!?! 

THEY KILL ME!

14. After we left my sisters, we went to a local nursing home to drop of flowers to someone who needed them most:

This sweet lady is 93 years old. She has lived in a nursing home for 20 years.

15. We then ventured over to the police station to drop of cookies to them:

16-20. I put five Starbucks gift cards in cards and placed them on random windshields. You may think, "Oh that's sweet!" Which it totally is.

 But I felt like a total criminal running around putting things on people's cars! 

21-25. I put five gas cards in cards and placed them on random windshields. 

I was lucky enough to see someone open theirs, and their reaction was pretty much like:

And I was all: 

The whole experience was absolutely amazing and I totally encourage anyone who is thinking about doing this to go forward with it! While it is costly and time consuming, it is totally worth it to bring some good to the world and lift up complete strangers!