Tag Archives: birthday

Honoring Others with Alternative Gifts

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honor-others-with-a-special-gift-for-them

There is a growing and excellent trend moving through our society: honoring our friends and family with special gifts for their birthday and on holidays. While there are still times when people need a new iPod, TV, or other gizmo, a lot of people already have a lot of things, and enjoy going out themselves and buying the particular model they want.

And while there are no shortages of sweet things and entertaining things we can buy for people we love, there is also no shortage of people in our world who really need our help, be it clothes, food, shelter, medicine or a micro-loan to start up a business.

give-a-goatOne of the first organizations to realize how great we feel when we help others is World Vision. Their catalog includes the things that poor and starving third-world people really need, including goats, ducks, medicine and mosquito nets. And while we and our friends are unlikely to want a goat for ourselves (they're a bit noisy and tend to eat clothing while riding the elevator) I guarantee two things:

1) There are definitely people in the world who would love to own a goat, so that they can have milk for their family.

2) When you give your friend a print-out about a family that is thrilled to have that goat (and maybe suggest that goat might be named after them) they are going to laugh and appreciate what a cool and generous thing the two of you have done for our world — turning our good fortune and celebration into something important that we can share.

And since giving a goat to someone is a good idea, organizations like World Vision have already figured out who needs the goats. You don't have to wander around, asking people if they'd like a goat or a chicken — you just pay for the animal or medicine or shelter, and let them figure out how to get it to the right person.

help-bring-clean-water-to-others

You can find all sorts of alternative gift ideas
by searching the web for:

alternative gifts

Here are just a few of the many ways to give
alternative gifts:

Alternative Gifts International

Doctors Without Borders

Provide clean water

Plant a tree and encourage others

Mercy Corps: Gifts that change lives

Make a micro-loan to help someone start a business

World Vision: give a goat

Mission Services: A local Community-focused relief organization

The Salvation Army – helping the homeless

Adopt some wildlife

When it's time to honor a friend or family member this year, honor them with a gift you'll both remember and be proud of.

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Celebrating our father’s confidence that things will work out

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Celebrating a father’s birthday can bring out many emotions and thoughts, especially for adult children. Most of us get to experience our father for a long period of our lives, from being Daddy’s little one through to Dad seeming somehow smaller. For each of us, those days in between say a lot about how both we and our fathers matured and learned along the way, and what has stayed at our core.

Every family has tough times and good times, and each person has moments of weakness and excellence. Birthdays are a natural moment in time to reflect, maybe forgive, and hopefully appreciate.

I believe that each man wants to be a good father. There are men who become fathers and struggle in the role, and there are men who never become fathers. But given the chance to be a good father, I believe that each man wants that as part of his life — to be part of a family which he helped create, nurture and protect.

father-son-working-together

father-son-together

I have been fortunate to have my father be a big and positive part of my life. He has been a part of my school years, my marriage, my careers, and my own family. We love each other dearly, and we both know that.

One of my father’s philosophies is that things will work out.  When I was younger I misunderstood his confidence for him not wanting to delve into the details of my life. But now that I am older, I see that his confidence in things working out had vital and powerful forces helping it become true: we all kept trying hard and being kind.

The phrase “things working out” can have a different meaning for everyone.  If we are fortunate, “things working out” has little to do with things we buy or tasks we work on, but instead revolve around the knowledge that we are loved. After everything in life has been boiled off we want to be part of a family or community that helps each other, and cares about each other.

For every man who has confidence that things will work out, you have the core of a good father.

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