I had a goal today: Bless 7 people. That was it. No ulterior motives here. I'm not that kind of person anyway, just ask my husband. Anyway, I had many, many errands to run today and my Granny (my 85 year old American grandmother) had surgery on her femur due to a fall and I wanted to see her too.
My first errand involved the bookstore, where I needed to drop some stuff off and pick some literature up. When I dropped off my old books, the guy behind the counter needed to see my license. I showed it to him and he said, "What do you go by?"
I shrugged. "Elizabeth, Liz, Lizi, Beth, Betty--I've been called many things."
He nodded thoughtfully. "Lizi Ann?"
"That's a first," I said with a smile, walking away to the business section. I found a cool biography for my Grandpa to read while he hung out with my Granny, and a remastered cassette book with like 50 comedians from days gone by for my grandparents to listen to--they don't like the modern smut comedy.
From the loudspeaker, I hear, "Lizi Ann, your order is ready for pick up." I smiled at my new nickname and got my stuff. I walked around some more, browsing, then grabbed what I wanted and checked out.
Right before I touched the bar to push the door open, I remembered that I wanted to bless 7 people. I spun on my heel and walked back over to the bookstore guy who gave me the silly nickname. It's always nerve wracking to put yourself out there, isn't it? I waited until he looked up and then I said, "Hey, I just wanted to let you know I was grabbing this stuff for my grandparents. My grandma just had leg surgery and she isn't eating, so I was getting this stuff to cheer them up. I really appreciated your silly nickname, thank you."
He looked surprised, and said that he always tried to keep stuff light and silly to cheer people up. Now mind you--my husband and I are in there all the time. I'd seen this guy before and he had seen me with my spouse, so this wasn't some kind of weird thing. He knew I was crazy about my spouse. But he cheered me up on a really hard day, and so in turn I wanted to bless him by telling him why that silly little thing meant something to me.
My day continued much like that. I blessed an elderly gentleman outside of Quicktrip with a quarter for the payphone because his phone battery was dead and had him laughing about my kids eating pecans in our backyard and him telling me about growing up in a house with pecan trees. I blessed my Grandpa and Grandma with visits and presents, my Grandma's caretaker I blessed with a prayer, my Grandma's nurse I blessed with some kind words. I lost count by the end of the day, I just started making it my mission to bless everyone I came into contact with.
It was an awesome day, and I highly recommend everyone try to integrate it into their lives. You reach a point where you realize you set out to bless other people, but you really end up being the one who gets blessed the most.
Lizi
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