This weekend I have been able to experience great joy. No it wasn't watching and coaching my son Jack's U12 soccer team with my good mate Luke Simpson to a win in round one of their competition. No it wasn't going to watch my beautiful daughter learn to hit a forehand and a two handed backhand at her tennis lesson. No it wasn't taking my other Son Jonte to A-Mart all sports (one of my favourite shops) to spend some birthday money. No it wasn't even being a part of the worship team at my church on my Sunday morning, which was incredibly special though. Don't get me wrong, all of that was brilliant but this was better to me....
Let me tell you what brought me the greatest joy this weekend. This weekend I got to witness love, unconditional love from my beautiful wife towards others and was able to also reciprocate that. Twice this weekend we had opportunity to invest into the lives of our friends, to love them, to welcome them into our lives and to be able to bring them joy. How special is it to actually bring great joy into another persons life? Have you experienced that lately, have you done that lately? I remember sitting with Sir Viv Richards and Sir Ian Botham a week or so ago having this exact conversation....I remember saying to these two Sirs.."What I appreciate about you both is that despite your stature, your fame, you have both impressed me by just being men, you are both just men like I am a man. You clearly could use your fame and stature and think of others as lesser men than yourselves, but you don't. In my opinion if all people around the world actually acted this way and had respect for all men in any walk of life with any standing, and actually just loved others, this world would be a far better place. If people respected other people's choices and decisions, not necessarily agree with them but respect and allow them to go on peacefully and freely." Sir Viv responded by saying "It's not only just not thinking of others as lesser men, but actually not thinking that you are better than another man!" How true, how often do we think of ourselves as better or more worthy than another person.....
My wife twice gave her time, her freedom in a way to help others this weekend, she sacrificed her "me" time. On Thursday night I asked if we could host a friend of mines birthday party on Friday night at short notice, just for men. After a big day/week of work she instantly said "Yes", no thought of herself, thinking how much it would mean to my friend to be able to have a gathering of his friends. We opened our house and my friend appreciated it greatly. On Saturday arvy we were due to attend a 9 yr old birthday party in the park when the heavy rain arrived. We messaged the family to see if it was still on only to hear the little girl was devasted as it was too wet to go ahead, particularly as she had been given a cricket set for her birthday and wanted to play with it at her party. Without hesitation my wife asked me "do you mind if I offer our place for their party, if the rain stops they can play cricket in the yard, we have a bigger yard, it will maybe make her day!" I also without hesitation said yes of course, no problem. So less than 24 hrs later from my friends party we were opening our house to make a difference in a 9 yr olds life. That little girl had her party and had her fun and celebrated as kids should, with a party! I believe that this is what life is all about, it is about loving and investing into the lives of those around you. Don't think you are any better than the next person, every person you meet is an opportunity to learn because you can bet your life that he or she knows something you don't! It might be a life experience they have lived through that is coming your way in the future, it might be how to take the lid off a beer bottle without a bottle opener, it might be that they can help you through a tough time. Life requires us to be open, not closed. This world that is full of hate, needs more love. Paying it forward has to start with you at your own front door, at your work, at your school, at your sporting club. It may be as simple as a kind word, some praise off your lips to another, a pat on the back, a shoulder to cry on, an ear to hear......
This weekend I have seen the joy on faces because my wife and I both gave to the cause of others. I'm not standing here to say I or we are perfect, far from it, but that at least we made the right moves this week. Hopefully we will continue to be open, love those around us in our lives and look forward to inviting more people in, hoping to learn more and more along the way. May we all make a difference in the world we are a part of, let's improve this world day by day from the inside out!h