One year ago this week, I became an “angel.” (I joined a group that encourages service members who are stationed around the world.) And it just so happens that my first anniversary of angeling lands on Thanksgiving Day itself.

I am indeed thankful, for I can see that lifting the hearts of those brave men and women (and their families too, by extension) has become one of the most rewarding and beautiful parts of my life.

We angels often say that we are blessed a dozen times over (or more) for every letter, card, package, or email we send to our troops. To me, it is a practical picture of the New Testament teaching on generosity: that when we give, it will come back to us–and not just in an equal measure but as an overflowing flood of blessing.

That has been true…even yesterday. Somehow, one of my adoptees had gotten his hands on a Thanksgiving card and he sent it my way, hoping it would reach me in time. When I opened it, my heart filled up and overflowed with happiness when reading the kind words he’d written.

With the most meaningful service, we do not serve and give only because of the blessings we feel and receive in return. But such return blessings do help us feel motivated to keep serving and giving out of far more than just a sense of duty and obligation.

This Thursday, I will pause to be thankful for and pray for my adoptees who are far from their loved ones, in places where they cannot enjoy even that simple pleasure of gazing at marvelously brilliant autumn foliage.

And as I pause to focus very deeply on all the ways I have been blessed, I will ask God to keep showing me where to pour out the renewed blessings in my heart, to shine light in the hard spots and the dark and shadowy places of the world.

NOTE: For more information about how to become an angel of encouragement to deployed troops or how to receive free encouragement as a deployed troop or for a deployed loved one, please visit: www.soldiersangels.org

Over the past few days, I have had one person each day (most of whom I had never met in person before) look me in the eye and say, “Bless you, child.”

(This is not a common experience for me.)

My reply each time, after a moment of surprise, was, “I thank you and receive the blessing.”

Though I look younger than my age, I am no longer mistaken by anyone as a child. But when I received each of those blessings, I was not offended by the wording. Whether I am 40 or 60 or 80 years old, may I always be a child of God, and never too old to notice and receive His blessings!

Noticing the blessings is a lot easier when we hear the words said directly to us. Yet, even if such words are not said directly to us, blessings are spoken all around us every day, if one’s heart will have ears to hear.

So see the genuine smile on a neighbor’s face reflecting goodness…

And feel the wind slip over your skin, reminding you of the gift of life in your lungs…

And hear the sound of a child squealing with laughter where she sits nearby…

And look up to view sunlight in a hundred finely-graded hues, whipped across the sky in glory…

In all these things and more, hear the words in your heart: “Bless you, child.”

And receive each blessing with thanksgiving.