Our 40 acts adventure begins!

So we are now over a week into the 40 acts lent generosity challenge, and I am loving it!  It is so exciting to be bringing Sam along for the ride with me this year and to be taking on the family version as well the normal version. We already have so many great stories to share (which I will in a minute!) but I wanted to start off by sharing this song.  I have been reminded today that generosity is a big choice - it makes you wrestle with your selfish inner self, but everytime I let generosity win I am always amazed at the outcome!

Love is something if you give it away

So many time in life we have the choice to hold everything tight to ourselves - love, money, time, objects.  We end up just having lots of stuff but being lonely and excluding others.  When we open our arms and our hearts we all benefit and we end up having more.

So this last week I have completed the following individual challenges:

All set for mr postman..... #40acts @40acts (praying we've got mail!) pic.twitter.com/ALIP6hevp4

— Rachel Ridler (@ace_rach) February 16, 2016v

-Circles - thought about who I connect with who might benefit from my generosity
-Roots - connecting with my local community, I signed up to be a friend of a new library starting up nearby
-Cupboard love - cleared out my cupboards and there is now a big pile ready to go to the charity shop!

We didn't make it, but here is sam's generosity box for day 3 of #40acts @40acts - raising money 4 @TeenageCancer pic.twitter.com/vtwFNFNoDu

— Rachel Ridler (@ace_rach) February 12, 2016

With Sam I have also completed most of the family challenges:
-Made a generosity kit to take around with us
-Left cake for friends to enjoy
-Sellotaped a chocolate bar to the letterbox for the postman
-made a grateful list

It has been amazing seeing Sam get excited about doing generous things - his face when we got home from nursery to see the postman had collected his chocolate bar was worth every penny! And today I ran into the postman to find out that normally there are two of them on our round, but that day there was only him so it had been a great boost for him.

Today I even got my own little generous gift in the post - a fabulous box of thorntons chocolates from a mysterious sender (big thanks to whoever it was!). I was on my way to a Baby Fun group with Reuben and had a big internal fight - should I take them in and share with the other mums who I know will appreciate them too, or should I save them to scoff all by myself on the sofa later.  Luckily, my generous side won out and we ll had a great time at baby fun chatting and eating chocolates. As I said before, everytime I let my generous side win I am always amazed at the result.  So why not join in and take part in 40 act....