Be A Blessing? Me?

I have heard more in the past year of what a blessing I am then I have in my entire life. I really don't know how to act or what to say when I hear this. It makes me feel awkward. Not many people know that Tina jumped in front of dobermen pinschers that were about to rip my throat out one night. She saved my life-without hesitating too! HA! I realize that not every one signs up to carry a child for their best friend without any strings attached. BUT so many people have said, "I would SO do that for my sister" or "I told my sister-in-law that I would do that for her". It leads me to believe that it's not that I am special but that I was given an opportunity AND I TOOK IT!
Throughout our whole lives we have heard phrases such as: "golden opportunity", "we live in the land of opportunity",  "window of opportunity"...I could go on and on. It's a word that's big and gets misspelled a lot. But it's also a word that could make us have better lives, in my opinion. Lets try and see if we can use it to our advantage.
These past few months I have embarked on some serious soul searching. Learning to let go. Learning to grab a hold. Just plain ole LEARNING! I want to be a better me. I want to give more of myself to others. I want to be a BLESSING to people that I come in contact with in my life. Blessings come in all shapes and sizes. What is a blessing to one person may be nothing to the next. I'm not talking about dishing out money to folks here people or stretching ourselves to the max. Nor am I talking about taking every opportunity (see how quick I threw that in there-you didn't even see it coming) we are given to do for others for our own personal gain or to show others how good we are to people. Blessings can be silent. Blessings can be hidden. Blessings can be private or public. Blessings aren't always about money, or time, or hand written letters, or pretty things. They don't always have to be touchable things either.
I think all of us want to be a blessing to others. We want to be thought of as good, helpful souls that are making someones day better. It's such a nice feeling to know that you made someones world brighter. But I think the first step in "Be A Blessing" is to evaluate our own blessings. How do you count your blessings? Do you do it daily? Or do you do it when something is threatened? Do you focus more on the negative then you do the positive? It's kind of hard to bless others if we first don't see or feel how blessed we actually are in life.
I was slapped in the face one time with a blessing. I didn't even realize or had not even thought of this as a blessing but after it was brought to my attention I give thanks for it every single day. My husband has a crazy work schedule. We dance around each other a lot. Before, it was so frustrating. I would get so aggravated that we couldn't have a "normal" day like every other husband and wife. I was angry until someone brought it to my attention of how blessed I was to have a husband that was WILLING TO WORK. Come again?! Yes. They expressed to me of how many men they knew that WOULDN'T work. Some men that jumped from job to job. Some men whose wives had three jobs just because they couldn't find the right job with the right amount of money. I was shocked. Shocked at my own selfish, petty complaints. From that moment on I began to look at our schedule and my husbands WILLINGNESS to work and provide for us as a true blessing. He works hard to provide for us.
My mama has always taught me to "do unto others as you would have them do unto you". Sometimes thats hard, aint it? Oh child! It is!!! This world is full of hate. The devil loves dark sided people. We sometimes base our "do unto others" by what they have done to us. We only go as far as they did on the "doing scale". But let me share this with you..."do unto others..." implies that you do the doing FIRST. Don't wait for the action or the reaction.
Maybe I have lost you. Maybe Im getting off track. We may have even missed the turn to the track. So back to the word of the day: opportunity. Take it! Embrace it! There are so many throughout the 24 hour day. Use it. Maybe you have the opportunity to open the door for someone, compliment their clothing, forgive them, ask for their forgiveness, make a cd for them, write out some cool verses that might encourage them, leave a note on their pillow, take out their trash, help them back out of a parking space...I could go on and on. They come in all shapes and sizes folks.
At the end of the day just knowing that you did the "doing" first is a blessing all on its own. You took the opportunity to be kind, selfless, and thoughtful to someone. Being kind, selfless and thoughtful are true blessings. I challenge you-as well as myself- to be a blessing. Give to others...share with others...see how good it feels. If you have the opportunity TAKE IT!!! You will be blessed.