Tag: neighborhood

The Next Great Awakening

Jennifred Jones

I believe the next great awakening is OUR  great awakening!

We, as individuals, are waking up…to re-see ourselves for the potential and content within us, the value we have, the contributions we can make…beginning in our sphere of influence – family, neighborhood, community.

We are starting to get a glimpse – we are more than just a cog in the wheel, a soldier in an army, a person under somebody else’s command who has no mind of their own, but only does what they are told.

We are realizing we do have value to bring to the table. We do have good ideas worth pursuing and sharing; that other people need our ideas to help improve what they are doing.

This is not a prideful way, but a manner of contributing to our world – of which we all are a part.

No, not everyone will agree or see things the way we do, but we still must keep moving forward; thinking the next best thought and striving to develop it.

What glimpses in your life are you getting you hadn’t seen before? What changes would you like to make happen? How could you do things differently?

Let your mind think beyond your current ‘now’, and allow yourself to seriously contemplate a new and different future.

Neighborhoods

Jennifred Jones

We all live in some sort of a neighborhood…

The street we live on is our neighborhood.

The apartment floor we live on is our neighborhood.

The county road we live on is our neighborhood.

We have people around us wherever we are, we see them, they see us.

We’re not trying to ‘keep up with the Joneses’, that’s a whole stress factor we don’t want to get trapped in.

We…I…desire to make my part of the neighborhood attractive and well kept for me. Everyone’s morale is lifted when they drive by and see somebody’s place well kept.

We can do a ‘shabby chic’ on our yard if need be…might be overflowing with crabgrass and peeling paint on the fence, but if we keep things trimmed up, add some flowers and keep them up, sweep and edge the walk, put a fun brightly colored table or chair on the porch, it will look happy, people will notice and smile, and it didn’t take much effort or money to do it.

Daily, it seems we have to pick up trash that somehow ‘landed in our space’, but that’s part of keeping our place up. Go ahead, take your trash bag and walk up and down your street or alley and clean it up. Next time you go out and it looks fresh and tidy, you can feel good, and rightly so, that you did it. You belong to the neighborhood improvement committee and whether anyone says anything or not….they noticed!

I think today, this Sunday, is a good day for me to see what I can do for my neighborhood.

Let’s get going!

The Parking Lot

Jennifred Jones

Where I work we will be having a 50 year anniversary celebration. 1970 was the groundbreaking year for our public service building.

The parking lot, also being that old, had a big hole developing in the concrete-right as you pull in and drive out.

Several contractors were asked to come take a look and give an estimate but never showed up. A fellow citizen of the community saw the need and was having some concrete work done in his nearby garage.

Today when I pulled in the parking lot, up drove a cement mixer and three men. They quickly removed all the broken concrete pieces and within 15 minutes the sinking hole was filled, leveled and smoothed, and surrounded by the same citizen’s sawhorses to shield the work while it set up.

I went to thank him, and all he said was, ‘the men had to clean out the mixer, and I said, ‘we’re going to fill the hole in the parking lot’.”

It cost our business nothing; it didn’t really cost him anything except his time and effort, yet what he did will continue to spread good will among our small community.

He decided to make it his project. It made a great impact on our little town.

His action motivates me.

What can you do to benefit your city, your town, your neighborhood, your street, your yard, your home… to elevate morale and show care for others?

Be on the lookout. Then take action.