Give Away Sweetness...

mmmm.. You gotta love some yummy sweetness. I was shown how to give sweetness away this evening quite unexpectedly.

I met a dear friend for coffee tonight and we went downtown to browse through "The Festival of Trees" It was a very appreciated break from the stress of the past few days: shopping, kids, car accidents  (that's another story for another day) and everything else that goes along with preparing for December 25th. I walked next to my friend with my warm latte in my gloved hands and admired the creativity of Christmas Trees. Each was different from the next.

Festive

Warm

Beautiful
A Christmas blessing as far as I was concerned. One that was NEEDED!! But that was not the highlight of our Christmas celebration. No, the highlight of the night came unexpected. For me at least.

Driving home my friend said to me, "We are going to take a little field trip." She is one who teaches me to see everyday life as ministry. So I am learning to look the server in the drive-thru window in the eyes, smile, and give them a word of blessing, instead of rushing through my transaction, getting my bag of heart attach, and pulling off thinking I'm the only person in this world. Hopefully a smile and an encouraging word could change that persons day... and that is my point of ministry.

We pulled into the Big Lots parking lot at quarter past ten and walked to the doors hoping it was still opened. It was. My friend found a clerk who was putting items back onto a shelf, looking tired and ready for her shift to end. "Excuse me." The lady turned and looked at my friend. "Can you tell me where your candy bars are." The lady pointed us the right direction. My friend asked, "What is your favorite candy bar, what would you recommend?" The lady replied, "OHH SNICKERS. I just love me a snickers bar." "Thank you very much." and with that we walked away. We found the snickers and went to check out. I was thinking this was all a bit silly, maybe even embarrassing. With the snicker bar in my friends hand we went to find the clerk that pointed us in the candies direction. My friend handed her the candy bar with a smile, "Merry Christmas and may God bless you." and patted her on the shoulder. I just stood there and smiled. And what I saw next blessed my socks off. This tired lady, this stranger, lifted, smiled, the look on her face was priceless. She had just received sweetness unexpectedly.

I bet she will go home tonight talking about the lady who gave her a snickers and she will remember. I felt so giddy walking back to the car. I told my friend, "That was an addictive kind of fun. I wanna do it again!" And I'm sure that I will...

What is your point of ministry? Give away some sweetness today.