someone you know needs a warm meal

Regardless of how you choose to open your heart to serving others this season, know that your company is a blessing and you have so much love to offer this world. I hope you have an amazing autumn season drinking all the pumpkin cream cold brews and maple cinnamon lattes that you can!

Love, G

It can be really expensive to exist around the holidays. With all the pressure to get gifts, the price tag on warm coats, price of meat, etc. It can be really stressful. That couple at church that is struggling to make ends meet, that family of 5 who could use a night of relief, that pregnant mamma that is overwhelmed enough without having to stand in a kitchen for hours to make a meal … invite them over and just be a blessing of servitude to someone else and their needs. This can also look like serving dinner to the children of a couple that needs a date night. Such beauty can come from feasting with one another. Fellowship happens over meals.

no one has ever said no to bread

putting up the christmas lights

With the acceptation of the unfortunate gluten allergy, I have never known anyone to turn down bread - especially if it’s fresh. Amish friendship bread is an old tradition it goes back many decades. It can be a fun way to connect with others and share love and kindness with them. Maybe you offer them the dough starter in a cute little mason jar with a note on how to bake it, or you bake the loaf yourself, use this as an opportunity to invest in someone’s life.

I know that most of these involve a ton of social interaction that feels outside of your comfort zone, but trust me that you will be just as blessed by these sweet interaction as the person that you are serving. You never know who you’ll meet, or how their story will influence you.

Not to make most of these seem like physical acts of service, but getting up on a ladder to put up Christmas lights is not safe or feasible for everyone. Christmas lights are so beautiful and cozy and the time to put them up is in the fall before it gets, too cold to climb up on the ladder. This is at no financial cost to you, and an easy way to show someone in your neighbor hood or an elderly family member that you care about them.

speaking of neighbors

baking together and sharing the love

when life gives you apples… share them

Raking someones leaves for them can be a HUGE blessing. It doesn’t even have to be raking, mowing up leaves can take as little as 30 minutes and can save your neighbor, friend, or family member money, time, and stress. The truth is you never know what someone else is dealing with and we do need to practice kindness towards one another. Sometimes it can be overwhelming to feel like every time you pull up to your house it’s a reminder of a chore you’ve been putting off and that can weigh pretty heavily on someones mental health. I personally am allergic to leaves and if someone were to offer to take care of that for me it would be a HUGE blessing in my life to not feel allergic attacks walking to my car. This can be an incredible way to get your kids involved in a charitable act to help people, go around the neighborhood as a family and offer to rake everyones leaves for an afternoon!

Pie is another huge part of the fall traditions and celebrations. Hosting a pie party is a great way to help spread joy in your community. The week before thanksgiving, grab some canned pumpkin and pie ingredients from the store and make some homemade pumpkin pie. It’s a blessing of time, community, and cost of ingredients. The can of pumpkin and the sweetened condensed milk can both have a very easy pie recipe that you can follow for pumpkin pie and while you’re at it, bake a few extras to bless a neighbor. In todays society we have sadly gotten out of the habit of conversations with our neighbors and investing in the people that are physically close to us. Take this as an opportunity to get to know that neighbor next door who you only see when they are out working in their garden or the elderly neighbor across the street that you haven’t seen have any visitors in awhile.

Apple picking is one of my favorite things to do in the fall and is definitely a reoccurring fall bucket list item. The easiest way to incorporate service of others into your natural routine is to accompany it with something that already brings joy to your life. If you’re like me, picking apples is a huge part of the joy of fall, but I almost always pick more than I need for eating, baking, etc.

I think a very sweet way to bless someone would be to take some of the apples and make a batch of apple butter and make a cute basket with a jar of apple butter and a few hand picked apples. A sweet gift regardless of whether or not you hand picked the apples.

It’s truly such a blessing to be able to open your home and serve others. It is demonstrated all through scripture how something as simple as offering a meal to a stranger can serve the Lords purpose and further His Kingdom. Regardless of whether you believe in the Lord, many people feel extra charitable around the holidays. As part of my exploration of being a homemaker, having a happy home, and looking into how different cultures run their households and how they serve others, I have found 6 “all American” ways that we can serve those in our families and communities this Autumn.

6 ways to serve others this fall

6 ways to serve others this fall

6 ways to serve others this fall

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