2015 The Blessing Box and Do Good Journal

Pictured here are our two tools for 2015. The box is our Blessing Box. When joyful things happen, special moments or something that touches us, we are going to write it on a slip of paper and put it in this box. Then on December 31, 2015, we will open the box and read and reflect on the good things that happened this year.

The other is our Do Good Journal. This needs further explanation. The Bible tells us in many places to do good deeds. I didn't realize just how many times until I researched it. Here are some excerpts.

Hebrews 13:16 Doing good and sharing pleases God
Hebrews 10:24 to stir one another to love and do good works
Gal. 6:9 & 2 Thes. 3:13 Let us not grow weary of doing good
Titus 3:1 to be ready for every good work
Titus 3:8 Those who believe in God to be careful to devote themselves to good works
Ecc. 3:12 To do good as long as they live
James 2:17 Faith, by itself, if it does not have works is dead


But I also know that we are warned not to boast of our good works--"For by grace are you saved...not by works, lest any man should boast" (Eph. 8,9). 

The idea of recording our good deeds was one of those remarks that I mentioned in passing like the time I said, "we should go to a different church every week for a year"--George liked it and we did it. When I mentioned recording all our good works, he said that we should.

This is not to brag and not to keep score. God knows the score and without him, we can't win.This is to be an encouragement for us to continue to do good works, to fill the book as much as we can but only with a joyful heart. Only we will read the contents of this journal so as not to boast. Hopefully this will nudge us when we are too caught up in our own world.

Although no one else will read this book, we hope that the actions recorded in this book will have brought light to the world.

Matthew 5: 15-16 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

These are our resolutions for the new year. I hope the box and book are overflowing by the end of the year.
Let 2015 begin. We are ready.

It's that time of year again...

The time to pack up the baggage of the previous year into two suitcases. First there are the good memories, the milestones and happy times. Unfortunately as years go, good 2009 can fit in a handbag for me, but I will take what I get. Then there's the suitcase to stuff with the bad parts of 2009--cramming in all the terrible things that happened, the unhappy things, the things better off forgotten. I might have to sit on this bag to close it. Well, I guess it wasn't that bad, but it just wasn't the happiest of years.

As we enter 2010, may you take with you your good memories (I hope yours is a huge bag) and leave that other baggage behind--locked up and forgotten. Enter the new year with a new suitcase or maybe more to fill with good memories, milestones and happy times.

May your good suitcase be overflowing with blessings as you continue on your life's journey into 2010.

God bless. Happy New Year!

A special little girl

A couple of houses from my parents is a large family who home schools their children. The kids are extremely polite and well behaved. Last year my parents hired the older kids to shovel out their paths for them (they have the driveway plowed).

Well, this year the older boys went to do another neighbor's yard and my parents had a couple of the younger ones. The youngest was a little girl probably about eight years old. She was so excited, "I never had a job before. This is my first job!"

My father watched as she loaded the shovel and then walked ten feet to dump it. She kept doing that, so he showed her the easier way. She kept asking, "Am I doing a good job, Mr. Casey?" "Am I doing good?"

Then she commented, "This is hard work," quickly followed by, "but I love it!" Her final comment (I'm sure after my father generously paid her), "This is the best day of my life!"

Wow, what enthusiasm. Don't you wish we could have that? My favorite Bible verse is: Colossians 3:23, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men," verse 24 goes on to say, "since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving."

With this new year coming, I hope to keep in mind the thought of this little girl and her zeal for her first job. I pray that God can give me a little of this enthusiasm when I am dreading the seemingly needless, duplicated and unending paperwork that my job entails. If I could only channel her attitude. When I am weary by the tasks at hand, I hope God will bring to mind this special little girl and her wonderful mindset and I hope that God will generously reward me too, as my Dad did her.