Mrs. Chapman sat in her chair wondering what she could create to help others near Christmas. She struggled to get around. She wrote many letters and she loved stickers. Each day she began her day with devotions and prayer.

She asked her daughter, Laura, “Do you have any ideas of how I can help others?”

Laura said, “You can paint pictures or write encouraging notes.”

“That’s a wonderful idea!” Mrs. Chapman said as she threw popcorn in the air. “Mail could be a problem, but I could do neighbors and people from church.

“I’ll help with delivery,” said Laura.

“Thank you! This will be fun,” said Mrs. Chapman.

Mrs. Chapman picked people from the church directory and wrote encouraging notes as God called her to.

Then she cleaned out a closet full of trinkets to find small gifts to put with the notes. She retrieved her painting supplies too.

Many paintings that she’d painted over the years hung about her house or stood in a closet. I can give some of these as gifts Mrs. Chapman thought.

Laura drove Mrs. Chapman to the store to get some small canvas. The sign on the store said:Sale on small canvas so, she got a deal.

When Laura and Mrs. Chapman arrived back at Mrs. Chapman’s house, they packaged some of the paintings from the closet. Each painting got wrapped inside a box with a heart sticker on a piece of paper with a bible verse and an encouraging note.

The next day, Laura delivered the boxes in the church mailboxes and Mrs. Chapman took some to the neighbors. They didn’t write who the gifts were from.

One of the neighbors found a box on their doorstep and jumped excitedly. She opened the box inside and recognized the artwork on the painting and the heart sticker. So very thoughtful she thought.

Moral: Love others as God loves you.