I’ve never really been a big fan of the taste of a fortune cookie but I have always enjoyed looking at those little slogans that come within them. Sometimes much to my dismay though I’ve gotten one with no fortune inside. Ironically, there have been other times I’ve gotten a cookie with two stuffed inside where they both were blank. But in most cases, there’s usually just one waiting for me that has some corny saying I generally laugh at.
Back in my fraternity days, my brothers and I would dine at a local Chinese buffet where we would read those corny fortunes aloud to each other but add the words “…. in bed” at the end of it. Often it proved to bring about quite a number of laughs amongst all of us especially when someone would get a fortune that said something like “You are talented in many ways (in bed)”. But over the years with my many visits to Chinese establishments, there have been a few slogans I’ve read, which I’ve tucked away in my spiritual locker because they inspired me. Just the other day at my most recent visit to the Asian fusion restaurant chain named PF Changs, my partner got one of these that I felt was worth writing about. It read as follows:
“Love is a present that can be given every single day you live…”
Many people often think that the types of presents that come out of feeling “love” are things such as flowers or chocolates. Some also think it’s just a verbal gift that’s used towards a partner, especially during sex and intimacy. But there is another type of love that I have been coming to understand much more about in recent times and that’s one I feel towards every single soul and living thing on this planet. And that love is really all about caring passionately and deeply for everyone and everything in this world. The more that I have worked on myself and grown closer to God through my healing and recovery, the more I’ve seen that this type of love is something I can offer as a present every single day in infinite ways.
Here are just some of those ways I’ve been trying to do just that…
1. Holding a door for a stranger
2. Buying a coffee for a stranger
3. Telling a friend how much they mean to me
4. Taking someone out to a restaurant who can’t afford to do so on their own
5. Tipping a server an amount equal to the bill itself at a restaurant just dined at
6. Preparing someone their favorite home cooked meal
7. Praying for healing for the world
8. Praying for only good things to come to those who I know really don’t like me
9. Doing a random act of kindness for someone who doesn’t like me
10. Taking care of someone else’s chores that I wasn’t asked to do
11. Donating money to a charity like the Jimmy Fund during a visit to the movie theater
12. Volunteering my free time to help inspire those who are trying to recover from addictions
13. Asking in prayer every day for all my thoughts, words, and actions to follow God’s will
14. Doing my best to embrace and never take the life away from any living creature
15. Talking to a random stranger who is ailing in any way with the desire to lift them up
There are many other ways than just these to gift love in some way to this world. I continue to find more of them as I work on deepening my relationship with God. I’ve learned that love is not just about kisses and hugs and intense passion for someone. It is so much more than that and can be a way of being throughout all of my life. And it’s one where I know now that love really can be a present in any moment of any day as long as I’m still alive and breathing.
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson