Create a ‘Service Calendar’ for the New YearShop

new year is finally here. I don’t know if there has ever been a year more hoped for or sought after. I can’t promise 2021 will be easier than last year, but I can promise that if we make an effort to make a difference, even just a little dif- ference, it might just be a little bit kinder.

January is the month of the New Year and New Year’s resolutions. I am the worst at resolutions, and the worst at following through with those resolutions. But this year I have decided I will try a little harder and follow through with a goal to become a little kinder and notice my neighbor and those around me a little more. So with the help of my family, we set a goal for this “New Year.” One I know we can follow through with and one I know you can too.

We have set a calendar for service, a different service for every month, and we plan to map out our expe- riences with each one and then see how this year transforms us. You can do the same and share your experiences with us and together we will see how we have changed and grown as a Serve Daily Family. For January make up your service calendar. If you are having a hard time coming up with ideas of how you can serve, I will share what the Gibson household came up with and you are more than welcome to steal some or all of ours.

February: Valentine’s day makes February the month of love and whether it is Valentine’s cards in a child’s classroom or a night of ro- mance with your sweetheart, I don’t think there is a sweeter month. But not everyone has a Valentine to share it with. Our family will be sending Valentine’s day cards to Missionaries who are serving from our area. You could also pick servicemen and women from your area, or a widow or widower whose loved one has passed on.

March: March is Women’s His- tory month. We will be sending personal letters to the women in our life who have taught and touched us in so many ways. It only takes a minute to send a thank you note to someone who helped to change your life for the better. We all have women in our lives who have made all the difference.

April: April is Easter, one of my favorite months. A time to reflect and a time to renew. This April at the Gibson home we will be mak- ing up Easter baskets to share with a few special people to lighten and lift their day in remembrance of He who gave everything to save us.

May: This May we will be taking a long family walk and picking up the trash in our neighborhood. A dear sweet neighbor we have has al- ways set this example for us. Every

she walks her dog through our neighborhood picking up trash as she goes.

It’s a little thing she does that she probably doesn’t even know we notice, but we do and we are going to follow her example.

June: I love to garden. So of course the service for June had to be garden related. We will be helping our neighbors by weeding flower beds or helping plant their summer gardens.

July: One of my very favorite months. I love the Fourth of July and I love our great country.

So this July we will be writing some of our local servicemen and women a thank you card as we cel- ebrate the freedoms which they so gallantly defend.

August: In the middle of the rush to finish family reunions and neigh- borhood and work summer parties, somewhere in there we will all have to find time to get our kiddos ready for school.

But during the craziness of school clothes and supply shopping we will be remembering some of the teach- ers that go out of their way to teach and mentor our kids. We will be making supply baskets for some of the teachers in our local schools.

September: September is the month of harvest and excess when it comes to our family garden. It also starts canning season and craziness in the Gibson kitchen, but you can bet we will be taking the time to share in the bounteous harvest we hope to be blessed with once again this year.

October: We will be starting a Neighborhood Halloween Boo in our area with the little ghost poster and a basket of treats. By the end of the month hopefully the giving will have spread and every house will support a ghost poster in their front window.

November: November will prob- ably be my most favorite service of the year. I love the month of gratitude and I love the post that so many share online of the bless- ings of which they are grateful for. But this November the Gibsons will be taking the gratitude posts in a different direction. We will be sharing a different person everyday who we are grateful for and why we are grateful for them. December: The last month of 2021, and with any luck we will have already grown and been changed by the service we will have fulfilled during the year. So this December may be the final service in our calendar for 2021 but hopefully it will not be the last of the Gibson Family service tradition. We will be helping with the local Sub for Santa program and hopeful- ly helping to make another family’s Christmas as happy and blessed as our own.

Let’s set a goal of service for this New Year of 2021. (Gibson is a Serve