No joy can equal the joy of serving others. ~Sai Baba Life is never so busy that there is no time to serve. ~Author Unknown The best way to find yourself, is to lose yourself in the service of others. ~Mohandas Gandhi Sometimes when things aren’t going the way we want them to in life or our marriage, we get SO involved with worrying about ourselves that we forget the very thing that we can do to help us feel better: serve others! If you want to feel closer to your spouse, I highly suggest doing service for others with your spouse. Sounds a little crazy, but IT WORKS. Even small acts of kindness performed side by side with our spouse can bring us closer together and help our marriage be more fulfilling. Don’t believe it? Seriously. Try it. To make this ‘experiment’ a little easier for you, I’ve gathered some Random Acts of Kindness (RAOK) ideas you can try. Don’t forget to grab the free printables below to leave everywhere you do an act of kindness 🙂
- Go ‘ding-dong ditching.’ Leave treats or things for your neighbors {or even just people in random neighborhoods} along with this cute printable from Poppies at Play: DING-DONG PRINTABLE
- Leave laundry detergent tied with a ribbon and a bag of quarters at the laundromat.
- Deliver handmade cards to nursing home
- Take ‘get well’ balloons to hospital and leave with nurse for someone who is alone
- Plant change {quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies} with note at children’s playground
- Set up a free face painting booth in your neighborhood
- Have an extra large tip ready, order pizza and tip that delivery guy big!
- Ask people at the grocery store if you can take back their shopping carts Here are several cute ideas from Mix Mingle Glow:
- Hand bottled waters out the car window to joggers/walkers/bicyclists you pass by
- Feed parking meters
- Hand out Tootsie Pops to children {ask parents permission first of course!}
- Buy a gift card for groceries and hand it to the person in line behind you
- Find a family eating lunch at a local restaurant, place a gift card on their table and walk out
- Drop off several hand written thank you notes and doughnuts at the police station
- Tucked happy notes in car doors in parking lot wishing people a good day
- Hand out balloons to children shopping with their parents
- Tape change to vending machines
- Read a story to children in your local bookstore or library
- Leave a small treat with a note of thanks for the mailman
- Use THESE darling printables from swtblessings.com and leave them on bathroom mirrors A few ideas from tickles to giggles:
- Hide Easter eggs with prizes in them all over a playground. Leave a bucket with a RAOK note 22. Stop at the Dollar store and hide dollar bills in the kid section. Hang around and listen for the squeals of delight from the kids that find them!
- Go out to lunch/dinner and leave a gift for your waitress
- Leave diapers and wipes on a changing table in a public bathroom Hope these ideas can get your started on a MARVELOUS date of service! Maybe when you get home, you can do a little service for each other and give each other a massage! Check out Kari’s date here for some AWESOME massage ideas 🙂 And last but not least, I’d like to leave you with a service quote from one of the coolest writer’s of all time, Dr. Seuss: Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not. Now go make someone’s day with your spouse. I promise that not only will you have a great time but your marriage and relationship will be strengthened. Happy Serving!
