Friday, February 21, 2014

Live a Life Inspired

Happy Friday to you. I hope you are staying warm today. I had to venture outside a little while ago to rescue my mail from the box. The wind is blowing fiercely right now, making the fresh snow that is coming down appear like white out conditions. We had freezing rain last night and the power was out from 8pm to 11pm. I am grateful to the electric company for working in those terrible conditions to restore our power. I'm just as thankful for my son who, along with his little sister, is scared of the dark. I was in one bedroom putting clean sheets back on the bed when it flickered a couple of times and went out. Jack quickly assessed the situation and began talking in a soothing voice to Izzy. I had managed to get to the doorway as the light flickered out that last time and talked to them until daddy came to the rescue with a flash light.

This brings me to my next story for you. A couple of weeks ago, at church, the Pastor talked about how our actions should speak louder than words. As his sermon continued, a couple of friends and family members popped into my head. I quickly grabbed a piece of paper and a pen out of my purse and jotted down names and what I wanted to do for them. A couple of days later, I carved out an hour from my work morning and began writing out thank you, thinking of you, and sympathy cards. Since that day, I have tried to make an out of the blue phone call to someone, sent more cards out, even wrote a lengthy childhood memory post to one of my cousins who suffers from Bell's Palsy syndrome, but has made it his mission in the past year to leave a kind post every morning on Facebook for his friends and family, wishing them a good day. I look forward to those posts the most, as they are guaranteed to bring a smile to my face. 

As I lay in bed last night, I thought about how maybe God was giving me a mission to inspire others. I cried a little as I thought about the personal losses I've suffered in the past 3 years. But then this phrase popped into my head..."Live A Life Inspired". The tears stopped, and I began to think about what good deeds I could do for others. 

Maybe this gift I have been given to create cards and scrapbook layouts can be put to better use. I want to challenge you, if you've taken the time to read this, to "Live a Life Inspired", too. If you are a papercrafter, like me, what can you do for others? I believe this idea transcends being a good Christian, whether that is your religion or not. It doesn't have to be a card, but maybe calling someone up out of the blue, maybe you can be the difference in someone else's life. You never know until you try.

Before I end this post, I want to share one of my favorite quotes.

“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” - Gandhi

Have a great day!

Casandra

3 comments:

  1. Where's the "like" button at?! I, too, am going to live a life inspired! Thanks for the reminder/challenge!

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  2. Such beautiful words and actions, Casandra! Have you read the Ann Voskamp book One Thousand Gifts? It speaks to having an attitude of thankfulness. She also has a blog called holyexperience.com.

    I love to make cards for people and so does my second daughter. It's so fun to create cards together.

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