RACK ~ conclusion?

I guess we are officially done with RACK (Random Acts of Christmas Kindness).  I have blogged our journey here and I'm sure I will go back and reminisce from time to time.  I have to say that when we pulled away from our last RACK yesterday, as happy as I was for what we had just done, there was a bit of sadness.  I have loved this journey.  My children have loved this journey.  It has been so fun to discuss our RACKs around the dinner table at night.  It has been amazing to watch how God has worked.  To see Him so clearly direct us to certain people and specific circumstances has been an unrivaled joy.  I have watched this journey transform me and my children.  God has led us to pray for perfect strangers; to look well beyond ourselves and our little lives; to maybe for a moment in the smallest of ways, to see the world as He sees it.  We actually pay attention more to those bustling around us.  Even while I am driving, I wonder what the person in front of me or behind me is dealing with in their life.  Are they in a state of pure joy?  Or are they in the deepest well of depression?  Are they numbingly stumbling through their life looking for a purpose?  I feel like I am beginning to see people.  Not just bodies moving all around me, but real people.  To look past the uniform of our mail carrier, delivery person, cashier, server, utility worker and garbage collector and see the face, the person, the soul standing before me.  This has affected all of us.  My children seek out ways to help and to be an encouragement.  This journey has opened their eyes to see beyond the four walls of their rooms and their needs and desires.  I don't want that to end.  I don't want to lose what we have learned.
I understand that we can always do Random Acts of Kindness anytime, any season.  However, this has been such a joy to set out purposefully each day seeking the one that God has for us to bless.  I am fearful that without that express purpose, I will slip back into my own little world and I will miss opportunities God places in my path.  This is going to be something that I commit to prayer.  I will have to work to keep my heart in tuned with God's heart.  I will have to focus on listening to the Holy Spirit's still small voice in the busyness of our every day lives.  I want this RACK journey to simply be a beginning point for our family.
When we started down this path, I had no idea where it would lead.  It wasn't always easy.  We dealt with sick kids, busy lives, changing circumstances and even rejection.  Several times we tried to RACK someone and they rejected it.  We offered coffee to someone ringing a Salvation Army bell and we were turned down.  We offered to buy a couple different cashiers gum or a snack or a drink to no avail.  We offered to return a cart for a store employee.  I tried to give hot cocoa to some men working on our house but by the time I got the cocoa ready, they were done and gone!  Not to mention the times that we had the best laid plans that completely fell through (I cannot tell you how many times I tried to catch a delivery person to give them a little something but I failed.  They move awful quick in this busy season!).  However, all those "failures" just makes me more determined to reach another one (One of these days, I WILL snag a delivery person and genuinely thank them for hauling around all those packages day after day!).  It also makes me realize that God is in control of this all.  If I am listening to Him, He will always put the right person in my path to which I can minister.  If I am in tune with Him, He will lead me.  I just have to make sure that no matter how "loud" my life gets, I can still hear that still, small voice.  I also can't wait for my daughter's birthday (the next birthday in our family) when we will have an excuse to purposefully set out to do more Random Acts of Kindness.
All in all, this journey has humbled me, encouraged me, overwhelmed me, inspired me, blessed me, taught me and changed me.  What a great way to end a year!  For those of you that have followed us through this journey, I thank you for your words of encouragement and your prayers.  It has been a beautiful walk.  I can't wait to see what 2012 holds for this little family!