The Big Give

While I'm not a "sold-out" Oprah Winfrey fan, every now and then she can really make a big impact in a positive way. (It's not that I don't like her - I just am not on board with everything she's excited about). One of these big positives is her show, "The Big Give". John and I have watched it from the start and have been very impressed.

The show is down to three contestants now. I've been pleased with who they've eliminated along the way and why- and the last three all deserve to win. Truly, I believe they want to win because they genuinely want to still be able to "keep giving" - they really love doing it that much. I think the million dollar award will be a let-down award to them compared to the reward of blessing people's lives in the dozens of different ways they've been able to creatively do on the show.

This leads me to thinking about that very thing - how some people are driven by the reward that comes from helping others. It can be so satisfying, that for some, I do believe a bit of a high. It's a wild thing to consider that somehow it can be a negative thing, but sometimes it's easier to help others than it is to focus on what's really going on with ourselves or in our own "homefront". For others, it can be a matter of relinquishing control to give others the opportunity to step forward and accept the challenge and reward of helping.

All the negatives aside, however, I think it is just awesome that Oprah and Extreme Home Makeover have made giving to others a very public and popular thing to do. I love the "pay it forward" idea - and how powerful random acts of kindness can be. With all of the "garbage" out there on tv today, how cool is it to watch strangers shower love on each other in a tangible fashion......