I don’t need to tell you we live in a broken world. But it’s not all bad. There are plenty of good things happening all around us. All we have to do is open our eyes. The holiday season certainly brings it out. But if you pay attention, you can see people making the world a better place all throughout the year. I’ve highlighted some of them on my blog here and here and here.
Tonight my wife was speaking on the phone to her parents. She discovered something about them she had never known before. Tammy’s parents live in a high rise condo building in beautiful downtown Peoria, Illinois. What she didn’t know until today is that they have taken it upon themselves, a couple of times a week, to pick up garbage in the streets around their building.
This eighty-five-year-old couple decided to turn their regular walks into something productive. They purchased a “picker.” They say you’d be amazed at how easily that thing picks stuff up. “You can pick up a dime with it.” When the rubber ends of the pickers wear out, you can order more online.
They have a specific route. They see some of the same people. He takes the picker. She takes the bag. Some people acknowledge them. Others don’t. But it’s always a good walk. And it always ends up that the streets and sidewalks in downtown Peoria are nicer than they found them.
One day the doorman in their building let them in and said: “The world is a better place because of you.”
And it is.
There is no time like the present, and no better time of the year than now, to make the world a better place:
- What can you do today to make the world a better place?
- When no one is looking, what will you do to help someone?
- What less-than-desirable place are you willing to go to bring some light and love?
- Whom can you help today with a word of comfort or a gift of grace?
- Where is the place someone would least expect to find you helping out?
Go ahead and do it. Today.
Make the world a better place.
When have you seen someone doing just that?
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