Internet Blessings

This holiday season I was blessed with a few gifts from blogging friends – gestures that took me completely by surprise, and blessed me in oh so many ways. It is one of the joys I have experienced from writing here at The Pile I’m Standing In – the community of friendships from afar, like modern day pen pals.

I have enjoyed reading Dacia’s blog, following her many ‘swaps’ with other crafting bloggers around the nation. I was blessed by one of Dacia’s packages last spring, sent from her former home in Connecticut, and was blessed again this New Year’s weekend by a lavender sachet given to me the night she and her hubby and other friends came over to play games.

It sounds like so much fun to give and receive, blessing other people by sharing things that you love. I often have good intentions, and even get as far as collecting items and boxing them up. Birthday cards are signed, sealed, and addressed. But far too often the package or card sits on top of my piano, waiting for a trip to the post office (which is three blocks walking distance, by the way, so I’m not even hindered by it being another errand), until the occasion is so far belated that I might as well wait until next year.

This past fall I finally got my act together enough to send out a package to Kristin – an old outfit of Ruthie’s that I thought she would like for The Boy. It was a crack-up for both of us, as we share the connection of raising a maniacal child (in addition to the love of Drink). It felt good to give, to share, to follow through on good intentions. One of my ‘aims’ this year (not a ‘resolution,’ as the ladies and I recently discussed – more on that later), is to live generously. This refers to not only financial and material generosity, but mostly to being kind and sacrificial at the core of my being.

I’m constantly amazed at how the Spirit can move one person to bless another, and how the gesture can become so much more significant than the giver could have even imagined. The Friday before Christmas I received a package from Kristin containing the beautiful art of Jen Lemen that I have been drooling over both on her website and at her new Etsy store. That was a bad week for me emotionally, and I was discouraged at having lost my temper with the kids too many times. (I never blogged about it, though, because who wants to hear about THAT the week before Christmas?) The pieces Kristin sent to me, Soul Storm and Peace, were HUGELY encouraging to me at the end of that very bad week.

And finally, last week I received a mysterious package in the mail from Redmond, Washington. The name was mostly unfamiliar to me, until I remembered exchanging emails with one of my readers named Leah. And sure enough, it was her! She sent me this FANTASTIC little book of her favorite cocktail recipes, including the Jitterbug Martini that I have raved about many times. And I kid you not, but I was actually JUST talking to Bryan about wanting to try out new cocktails with all the liquor I currently have on hand (more on that later). The Lord moves in mysterious ways, hallelujah.

So, thank you, everyone – not only for giving, but for blessing me with your example of blessing others. I pray it is contagious!