Hasn’t Christmas snuck up on us?  I know it has me. For weeks I’ve been saying “I’m just not into Christmas this year,” which is very strange for me because I love holiday time with family. Even more so, I should be “into” it this year, because my parents have just moved back to Kansas City for the first time in almost two decades (they were overseas missionaries). -and that should be exciting, right?  Well, yes it is, but I can’t help but notice this lack of energy or desire to go spend loads of money just to spend, when we really don’t “need” anything. It’s almost like my “energy to give” is clogged. So, I’ve been prayerfully considering what is really important in this holiday season… and Jesus most definitely is the reason for the season. But what does this really mean? For me, I’m simply reflecting on the man Jesus and my relationship with Him… or lack thereof. Sometimes just when we think we know someone, we realize we really don’t. I believe there is so much to the man Jesus, that we can forever be discovering more about Him during our stay on earth. 

These thoughts led to a freedom, that I pursued. A freedom to not have to be in the box of what Christmas should look like, but to allow ourselves to be “unclogged!”  To unclog my “energy to give” today, I went and randomly gave to three different people.  As I stood in line behind three different people at three different stores, and when I heard their total bill announced, I simply asked them “Excuse me, may I pay for your bill?”  Completely dumbfounded each time, the person’s face was a blank as they just stared at me. I had taken a blow at cracking them. Cracking that hard external layer of fear, worry and solitude. After a few moments, and once my debit card was swiped, that hard external layer fell to the ground… and a smile was cracked!  Out came a joy that was buried inside… or received from the outside.

The three people I played “angel” to today, were an older woman at Whole Foods, a teenage boy at Dollar General and an African American grandma at another Dollar General. The grandma stated she had many grandchildren. She had tons of toys, wrapping paper, gift bags and candy for her items. When I saw her little coin purse come out, she seemed to have budgeted for this expense today. Once she realized that all the items on her list were just paid for, she put her coin purse back in her bag, turned around and gave me a big hug and said “I’ll never forget this for the rest of my life.”  

It doesn’t take much to crack the joy out. In these hard economical times, go do the unexpected.  Go find someone to crack the joy out of! 

Oddly enough, once I gave to these three people today, it literally “unclogged” my energy to give (or maybe cracked a little more joy outta ME!)… and I had a newly found energy to go find a few small items for my family members. Most of all, my love for others was activated and increased. Thanks, Jesus, for being my inspiration and sole source of this love.

*thank you for reading my blog post without pictures!

I was just playing around with my 100mm 2.8 macro lens, while I was shooting the Voltron (click HERE to read more) -and snapped a quick shot of my beads lying on my dresser.  Maybe I should keep them in a more proper storage case?  hmm… naa.  (the ISO on this shot was cranked to 3200 because it’s night time and my room is dimly lit. With a 2.8f and 1/60.)