Sending Out to Give

When I first learned this concept from SendOutCards, I thought of the Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Or, as my daughter's Sunday craft from church says, "Treat others as you would like to be treated."

I have always believed this to be true, but honestly, have not had a way to implement this in a practical and tangible way every single day. There was a time that I thought about calling a different friend every day to chat at length, but I couldn't practically do it. I had always wanted to keep in touch with people, but was not very good at it.

Initially when I started with SendOutCards, I started with wanting to build a business right away, because I loved the company's corporate mission statement, "Changing lives...one card at a time." I think it is a very needed service and everyone can benefit from giving and receiving words of encouragement and affirmation from the people they love.

However, to be honest, I did not follow directions from the company very well. They recommended sending an unexpected card every day to someone. I thought this would be a waste of time and money. And I did not think it would do much for my business. But I was focusing on myself and what I could gain.

It was not until I shifted from actions of focusing on myself to focusing on others on a consistent daily basis, that I began to send out a card every single day, for the purpose of giving encouragement and affirmation to others who crossed my paths or my thoughts.

I cannot begin to tell you the difference it has made in my daily thoughts as well as what is starting to come back to me. So the "sending out to give" or the "treat others as you would like to be treated" philosophy is true! And it is not just a philosophy; the Scriptures itself has said it through the words of the greatest teacher Jesus.

I have not only been keeping in touch with friends and family that I haven't talked with in a while, I have begun to befriend new people and gotten so many invitations to playdates, birthday parties, and special parties than I could have ever imagined! Now I can barely keep up with all the activities and friendships that are sprouting up from my consistent action of sending out a card every day just to give.

Not only do I get a chance to connect with people in the community, it just plain feels good to send out positive words every single day, knowing that I am helping to affect someone's thoughts for the better that day.