Light the World - A Test of Character

On second thought, maybe I shouldn't go out of my way to try to Light the World. Maybe I should just go about my business, doing what I normally do, and see how many of the days I participate in without even trying. It might be a good test of character. How often do I do the things that we, as Christians, are supposed to do? Also, making note of which days I missed will give me some ideas of where I could improve (as if I needed more ideas of where I could improve).

Today was about honoring your parents. One of the suggestions was to call your parents, which I totally should have done, but I didn't. What I did do was spend all day with one of my parents, helping him with errands and a doctor's appointment.  Part of me thinks that that's nothing special because I do that almost every week, but another part of me thinks that that's special because I do it almost every week.

I'm discovering that service is part of my nature, both as part of my weekly schedule and as something I do impromptu when the opportunity comes up. Like a week ago, when a kid got a ball stuck in a tree, I didn't help him because I was supposed to; I helped him because I wanted to. I saw someone who could use help, and I just wanted to help.

This drive to help and serve others has gotten me into trouble a few times, and I sometimes wish my compulsion to service wasn't as strong as it is, but giving service is usually a good thing, and I do it rather often, so I can't be all bad.

Using the Light the World project as a test of character is a new idea, and I'm not fully committed to it, but it will be interesting to see which days I participate in naturally and which days I have to go out of my way to participate in. I'm two for two so far. Tomorrow is tainted as far as tests of character go because I saw that one of the suggestions is to help others see the virtues in them that they don't see in themselves, and now I'll never know if I'd have done that without hearing the suggestion. I'll do it anyway, of course, but I don't know if I should count it as something I would have done anyway. On the other hand, I did it today before learning that it was a suggestion for tomorrow. As with before, it just sort of came out naturally. I'm three for two, then, I guess.

But now I wonder, should I read the suggestions at the start of the day to make sure I participate, or should I wait until the end of the day to see if I participated without even trying to? Maybe I'll wait until the end of the day, check to see if I did it, and then, if I didn't, I'd go out of my way (if necessary) to make sure I do it the next day. For example, if I hadn't honored my parents today, I would go out of my way to honor them tomorrow. That might work. It's too late for me to do that tomorrow, but I might do it the next day. By not looking forward at the suggestions, I can make this test of character a true test.

I wonder how well I'll do. I'm doing well so far, but I wonder how long I can keep it up. I'm good at service, but I'm sure they'll test other Christlike attributes and behaviors as well. Still, I'm interested in seeing the results of this test. Therefore, I'm going to try to go into the test blind. Let's find out if I normally Light the World.