39 Acts of Service-- A Very Happy Birthday

Last Year I wrote a post about 38 acts of service, doing an act of service for every year of the age I was turning on my birthday. It was definitely something that I wanted to do again this year so I did it on my birthday!!!

I turned 39 years old and therefore set out to do 39 acts of service.

I told myself that theses had to be service opportunities that I normally wouldn't do in my day to day life. For example, as a mother it is easy to do service within my own household. I am constantly on the go and helping my little guys so I wanted to only count things that I did that were extra.

Last year, I prayed and asked that I would have people put into my path that needed help, love, encouragement or money. I had some incredible experiences. This year it was different and maybe a little less glamorous but still completely awesome and fulfilling!



I have to admit that tonight it got down to the wire. It was late and I sat down and counted up the acts that I had done and came up one short. My husband was kind enough to let me give him a foot massage so that I could reach my goal! He is so good that way, always lending a hand or foot when I need it. :)

That's not really his foot or my hands but for some reason I thought a picture would be funny ;)

I won't list what I did completely and I am aware that by listing a few of these I may void my blessings in heaven but hopefully it will give ideas to someone out there who might like to do the same.
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Planning
I started planning yesterday. I first listed some of the promptings and thoughts that I had been having for a while. I thought of people to help and ways in which I could help them. I then prayed throughout the day and a few additional ideas came to me so I wrote them down as well. I then prayed again this morning asking Heavenly Father that people would be put in my path that needed help and that I would be guided to know who to help.

Starting the Day
The day started off early. I got my run in and was welcomed into the day by a beautiful sunrise. It was bright, soft and golden and the beams were beautiful! I made the kids an extra special breakfast and got them off to school. I then headed to Macey's grocery store with two of my little ones in tow to buy service gifts.

Thank You Epi-Pen Hero Chick!
While at the pharmacy, at the store, I dropped off a Thank You note to the "Macey's pharmacy staff". It sounds weird but it was one of the things I wanted to do. They had been very helpful in helping me save money (over $150) on a prescription for an epi-pen for my son. Specifically it was a girl who was college aged, blonde and sweet as could be. I gave it directly to the Head Pharmacist. He seemed pleased when he realized it was a thank you note and I knew that he would appreciate it even more after reading it. (Someone did this for me a long time ago when I was in college and working at a department store. The store Director thanked me personally because of this. I never was able to thank the person who wrote the note. It was nice to pay that forward.)

Missionary Mom
While in the store I ran into a woman who was buying food for her college age son and she told me about her other son on a mission in Florida. After talking to her I walked away and realized what a perfect opportunity this was. I turned around and told her what I was doing and asked if I could give her money for her sons mission. She let me.

The guy with the three boxes of soda
While at the store I told myself I would pay for the person's groceries behind me. It ended up to be a guy, about my age, who was buying three large boxes of soda. It was too funny to me that he would be the one, but I told him what I was doing and he let me buy his soda. I thanked him and we exchanged some small talk. He seemed really interested in my kids, me and what I was doing. He then left with his basket of soda and I headed off with my basket full of goodies for the day--like Santa :)

I'll buy your lunch
I then went to McDonalds and bought a drink (I also ate chocolate and potato chips for lunch. It was planned and probably not a good idea from the way I felt after, but I decided I would do what I wanted today for my meals) A young guy probably about 20 years old was in a truck behind me and I asked the girl through the window at the register if I could buy his lunch. She was really curious about what I was doing. There was a long line behind me and no one in front of me but she kept asking me more questions about why I was doing it. I told her it was my birthday and that I had prayed about who to help. She had tattoos covering her arms and more piercings than I thought looked comfortable but she was personable, friendly and very likable! I told her to tell the guy behind me that it was what I wanted to do for my birthday and thanks for letting me do it. He smiled really big at me through my rear view mirror and I waved and drove away.

I did several more things throughout the day: dropping off items, writing notes, accepting teaching opportunities, giving gifts and sending thoughts. I took a couple of opportunities to stop and talk to people. I even washed my mom's dogs last night when I started counting service towards my day.

The Prompting I Missed :(
In the evening I went out to eat with family at Olive Garden. As we were finishing up I bought a gift certificate and watched for a young couple to give it to. I walked through the restaurant until I found a couple. They were young and it wasn't until I was close to them and observed their manners towards each other that I realized that they were probably just dating. I gave them the card and talked to them for a minute. They were very grateful. As I went back to the table with my family I saw another couple. They looked like they were newly married. They were exactly what I was looking for. I got a little nudge to pay for their meal but sadly I didn't follow it. Gahh! I already felt like I was making my family wait and I didn't want them to have to wait for me to stand in line again to buy another card. We just left. I really regret that now. I guess I will need to do that again sometime and try to make up for it somehow! I relearned the lesson that it only takes a moment to follow a prompting but it lasts a lifetime to think about it.

There were several other things that I did like sending texts, cards, giving donations. welcoming new ward members, taking in meals, help my Mother in Law hang some things and I even indexed for the first time in a long time (which was super cool btw! World War II draft names!!!!)

I didn't get any overwhelming promptings this time besides the one that I didn't listen to but I think it was because I had things more structured and planned out for the day before hand. I had prayed a lot more before hand this time and listened upfront.

BEST BIRTHDAYS EVER!
I hope that I helped someone, somewhere but if I didn't I sure could not have asked for a better birthday! It is absolutely fulfilling to do this! There is no party, no gift, cake or surprise that could add this much joy to my day. Birthdays stopped being a big deal for me a while ago but this has refreshed my energy towards them! I would recommend that everyone does this at least once!

The only thing that I didn't get to do that was on my list was to give blood. To me that was the perfect act of service. They say it can save up to three people. I don't know if that is true or not but still it would be such a great way to help others!

So in all it again proves to me that the true way to happiness is to serve others.

I will end this post the same way I did a year ago with Matthew 16

For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.  (Matthew 16: 25)