Encourage one Another. Really cheap ways to bless others.

Something about the local thrift store having a table with a tablecloth and flowers and being offered a cup of tea completely won my heart.  Since this discovery I have had a few cups of tea there too!  It all just takes me back to Nanas kitchen and the welcome and homely feeling... that cannot really be described but I hope you all have felt it at some time.  It is not glamorous or polished.  It is truly simple and welcoming.  Someone who wants to talk with you. Someone who asks how you are.  Someone who bothered to throw a tablecloth on the table or add some flowers.   And you feel as if you've been transported back to a simpler time.  Someone who is actually pleased to see you.  And it does you good!

The other part of this is the chat.  Just to sit for a little while and chat.  A cup of tea and a chat are amazingly restorative.  There are really people who don't get to talk to anyone all day.  In general I have been very lucky but last year I came face to face with a young woman and it was a situation we were both waiting in the same spot.  So I said hello as I always would.  She very begrudgingly said hello back then she turned away and looked at her phone and her body language made it clear I was to say no more.  I truly did not exist to her.  It was cutting.  I thought well I guess there are people who get treated like this all the time day after day.  So God showed me how that would be.  Then I remembered.... how I chatted relentlessly to a taxi driver, inquiring after his day, his family and so on.  At the end of the ten minute trip he said "thank you for talking with me, it was so nice."   Another time I chatted to an old lady in the supermarket car park.  She also said "thank you for talking to me."  So I think maybe this is a number one way to encourage another person is to simple speak to them.  Maybe compliment their work or dress or some other way to get the ball rolling.  

Entertaining went completely crazy with elaborate dinner parties with unpronounceable and intimidated the heck out of many of us.  It turns out a cup of tea,  a biscuit and a chat is all anyone really wants.  Maybe a sandwich.  Or a scone or biscuit.   My helpers are here two days or three days a week and morning tea and lunch are part of our understanding.   Well,  I have discovered a toasted sandwich seems to be the biggest hit,  a slice of cake... in winter sometimes I made pasties or sausage rolls.  And a cup of tea.  They seem to think this is marvellous.  We usually talk about the news,  plans and make jokes then we all head off back to work.  This is also very uplifting.  

I remember Nan would take me to visit one of her sisters.  She had a lot of sisters... being the youngest of thirteen.   We would set off with some flowers from the garden.  Maybe some eggs or veggies, fruit from a tree.  Something Nan had.   Once there the cup of tea and chat would go on for ages then her sister would give Nan something she had...  or something she baked.  So an exchange took place.  Everything was shared.

Now here is an  example...  Mum comes to my place.  She arrives with some biscuits she baked.  I give her a dozen eggs and scones to take home.  Then quite often Mum will ask me to cut her hair.  So after our cup of tea and scone... I trim her hair.  Then she heads to Chloe's house.  She has a meal packed up that she has cooked for her Chloe's family.  I use Mum as a courier and send something I baked also....  it is like a circle of exchanges.  This week I sent her home with a baked dinner for my brother.  And so it goes....

This reminds me of the hand delivered letter.  If someone is travelling they can be your courier.   There is nothing nicer than receiving mail this way!  Then there is the hand delivered parcel.  Since someone is travelling this is a chance to skip the post office charges and send your parcel.   From me this week that would be eggs, apples and pears.   And a note!   😊

I am old enough to remember STD phone calls. People would call each other and over a long distance it was quite expensive so you had to keep calls short.  Now a STD is a sexually transmitted disease lol.  But now being able to talk with someone long distance is nothing!  I prefer messenger but there are many choices and ways to chat that cost nothing extra to our internet plan.   To just ask someone how are they?  Tell them you are thinking of them... maybe share a photo!  It is so easy.   

When the world seems out of control we need to encourage each other and also ourselves.  The crazier things are the more the simple things feel wonderful.  Wash the dishes and laundry,  make a meal,  take a bath,  drink some tea, get some sleep.  There is a whole new appreciation for these simple things.  Taking someone a meal can be the biggest help of all. 

I have shared this before... when the girls were in high school a boy from next door helped me with some work in the yard.  I guess he was around fifteen.  I went to pay him and he said he didn't want money.  What he would really like is if I packed him a school lunch like I did for Chloe and Lucy everyday.  Oh my goodness.  Of course you know I did and I made it super beautiful. 😊  So he had noticed for goodness knows how long and this is what he really wanted.  

Maybe it is just that thoughtfulness,  kindness,  consideration,  interest, bring a good listener,  having manners... all of these cost nothing but make a world of difference.  💗 xxx