Fun Friday

Anyone have snow?

Helpful Ideas for $1

This blog post has some really helpful ideas from the Dollar Tree. What can you add to the list?
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Quick Tips: Showing Kindness Everyday

February is a month where thoughts to turn relationships, but really, focusing on relationships and kindness should be a year round theme. Author and speaker Linda Gilden shares tips for showing kindness every day.

Showing Kindness Every Day

My three-year-old opened the kitchen door and screamed, “Come here! Quick!” I hurried back inside.

“What’s the matter?” I asked expecting blood or worse.

She pointed to the kitchen cabinet. She had arranged seven folded potato chips. In our family, folded potato chips say, “I love you.”

Small acts or words can change the course of someone’s day. Be alert for ways you can encourage others with small deeds.

• Be aware of things that are special to your friends. It might be folded potato chips but it could be the corner piece of the brownie, the front seat in the car, a single flower.
• Some people respond to acts of service rather than gifts—unload the dishwasher, come to a meeting early to help set up chairs, wash the car without being asked, cook and take dinner.
• Use kind words and make sure your body language matches them. Often because of our upbringing we say the right thing, but our slumped shoulders, rolling eyes, or stance indicate otherwise. Make it a habit to brighten someone’s day with heartfelt, encouraging words.

Many times the little things make the biggest difference!

Linda Gilden is a writer and speaker living in SC. She believes in the importance of finding everyday ways to encourage others. She is the author of 11 books many of which are about encouraging others. connect with Linda and find out more about her books and speaking engagements through her webpage HERE

A few of the books you may want to read:

Other quick tips you might want to read are:

How to Start the Year Worry Free

Get Reading in 2017

Embrace the Season

Keeping Your Mind Strong

Getting Your Preteen to Read

Help for Clutterbugs
Keeping Christmas Simple But Meaningful
Healthy Heart Tips for Football Couch Potatoes
Having a Personal Quiet Time with God
Beating the Winter Blues
Friendships That Cross Boundaries
Five Fresh Starts for Living
Positive Parent Teacher Relationships
How to Make Your Words Matter
Gluten Free Eating
Picture Book Month
The Healing Power of Forgiveness

Fun Friday: Can You See It?

How long did it take you to find the different one?

Quick Tips: Embrace the Season

Having a blah day? Ready for winter to be over? Today author and speaker Grace Fox encourages us to embrace the season.

The Christmas season is over. New Year’s has passed. Songs about silver bells and snowmen are silenced for another year, but winter still lingers and can leave us feeling blah. How can we keep our spirits bright?

•   Volunteer. Offer your services at your church, in a school or hospital, at a pet shelter, homeless shelter, or in seniors’ care home. Visit a shut-in and play a board game or work a jigsaw puzzle together.
•   Learn something new. For instance, choose a country that interests you and read about its history, culture, and traditions. Search online for documentaries to watch and recipes to try. If you’ve always wanted to develop a hobby such as painting or photography, then take a class.
•   Practice the presence of God. Turn everything you do, even your mundane tasks, into an act of worship. Invite Him into your day, and talk with Him as you would a close friend. Ask Him to open your eyes to evidences of His presence and write down what He shows you.

Embrace winter as a season for personal and spiritual growth rather than a time to be endured, and blessings will chase the blahs away.

Grace Fox is an author and speaker whose passion is to connect the dots between faith and real life so her audiences might live the life God intends. Drawing from Scripture and from personal experiences learned while living on Canada’s rugged coastline, in urban U.S.A., and in Nepal’s Himalayan mountains, she uses the written page and the public stage to build Christ-based confidence in audiences worldwide.

Grace’s quick wit, real-life stories, and biblical insight keep her in constant demand as a speaker. Everywhere she goes, she exudes a contagious desire to know Jesus Christ intimately and to love His word.

Her books include:

You can order Grace's books here.

Connect with her on her webpage here.   

Other quick tips you might want to read are:

Keeping Your Mind Strong

Getting Your Preteen to Read

Help for Clutterbugs
Keeping Christmas Simple But Meaningful
Healthy Heart Tips for Football Couch Potatoes
Having a Personal Quiet Time with God
Beating the Winter Blues
Friendships That Cross Boundaries
Five Fresh Starts for Living
Positive Parent Teacher Relationships
How to Make Your Words Matter
Gluten Free Eating
Picture Book Month
The Healing Power of Forgiveness