Spiritual Scavenger Hunt!

Day Seven

Well, here we are! It’s the end of week 1, and we’re going to end it in a big way! We’re not going to write a note, draw a picture, or drop coins, no. We’re going to make an entire anonymous gift! Sound crazy? That’s understandable. Is that going to stop us? I don’t think so! 

Now, throughout this week we’ve been giving to total strangers, but I can see why some people would be uncomfortable giving an entire gift to someone they don’t know. If you’re one of these people, that’s certainly fine! You can always give an anonymous gift to a friend, although it’s possible that they end up finding out it’s you. If you want to avoid this to keep with the theme of the week, make sure you use a gift bag that they’re not aware you have and type words instead of writing. 

If you’re up for the challenge of creating a gift for a stranger, listen up! Since you’re not going to know what their interests and hobbies are, you should pick out something that would be of practical use for anyone or isn’t gender-specific. If you don’t want to spend a lot of money, you can always go to the dollar store and find a nice looking picture frame, print out a nature scene, and put it in an old gift bag (with a blank tag or the old tag removed!). If the stranger doesn’t like the nature scene, they can choose their own picture to put in the frame! To find your victim of kindness, drive around until you find an unfamiliar house or neighborhood and choose someone at random to place the gift in their mailbox or by their front door. 

If you want to gift a friend, think about something they might like, while still being generic-enough that they won’t immediately know that it came from you! For your gift tag, type out something like “This has been a random act of kindness - I hope you enjoy this gift!”. That way, you’re not lying by pretending that they’re a stranger or that you’re a stranger, but it’s still vague enough that they might just accept it without hunting out the giver. 

So, what’s the point? We’re practicing generosity! Many people would be extremely hesitant to spend anything on someone they don’t know, but when we push ourselves a little to be kind, we expand how much we’re willing to give. Hopefully, after completing the activities of the week, you feel a little more eager to give or have a better understanding of how our actions affect others. 

In your reflection page, take some time to consider what sort of things you learned over this week. If you feel like you haven’t learned anything, don’t fear! There’s still plenty of time left. Also consider the following questions;

1. Do you feel like you’ve expanded your willingness to give over this past week?

2. Do you feel any closer to your goal?

3. How do you think what we’ve done this week has affected other people?

Congratulations, you’ve completed week 1! I’m looking forward to starting week 2 with you tomorrow.