A Lesson in Giving – from a Professional Organizer

Every once in a while, the Universe sends you a message so screamingly obvious, you are forced to sit up and pay attention. Like the majority of other human beings on this tiny little planet, I don’t always pick up on these signs, but the other day I managed to get the signal. And it sorta blew my mind.

Here’s what happened:

Every year, our Chamber of Commerce participates in a Winter coat drive hosted by Hope Community Church in Lake Oswego. Last week, I decided to clean out my own coat closet in order to give to the drive. What started as a quick coat-closet purge / organization session turned into a household wide “warm garments” purge. Why do I have so many sweaters?? I digress.

I bundled up my donations and brought them to our Friday morning Chamber meeting. Upon arrival, I dropped my bag of coats into the drop-box. The man selling raffle tickets to raise money for the Chamber saw me do it, and walked over. “Thanks for your donation – have a raffle ticket, on the house”, he said. I thanked him, and bought a few more tickets, for good measure.

Eventually, the raffle drawing began, and number after number was called. I started thinking about other things; planning my day, wondering if I had time to pop to the store on my way home. Suddenly, I realized that the number that was being called – on repeat – was one of my tickets! I won!

“And the 80-minute massage from Elements in Lake Oswego goes to… (cue me, waving my hands in the air like a small, excited matador) VERONICA!”.

Let me preface the description of my excitement by saying that I NEVER WIN ANYTHING. Never. Let’s just say that my face hurt from smiling so wide.

And the winning ticket?
It was the one I got for free, as a thank you for my donation.

I can’t think of a better example of “if you give, you shall receive”.

Sometimes, when organizing rooms in our home, we hold onto things that aren’t serving us – just because we think we might use them someday. While this is a valid reason for keeping some things, it is still a hypothetical one. Because someone out there might need those things right now. And letting them go might be just the thing you need to let something better come into your life.

So I dare you –
in the spirit of the holidays or simply in the name of giving – try it.

I promise, you won’t regret making room in your life for the new and the extraordinary.

Thanks to Roger Heikens at Elements Massage in Lake Oswego for the amazing massage! You can find them at Elements Massage in Lake Oswego.

To participate in the coat drive, contact Keith Dickerson at keith@lake-oswego.com.