Changed perspective

As many of you know I opened a gift shop last May. In doing this i have spent a lot of hours cleaning, sorting, putting together displays, and learning all kinds of new things. (This blog being one of them). Although many of these things have been overwhelming and frustrating, I have learned a lot and it has overall been a wonderful experience.

Right now we are in the middle of our "Holiday Faire". That is our big holiday sales time of the year, and we have all worked hard to have a nice variety of top quality inventory on hand.
We have spent long hours putting up displays, painting, crafting, arranging and rearranging things. That is an ongoing process with a store.

Time to time i am concerned about whether i will have enough to put in the store, then will i have enough room to put all the things i've found to put in there, and does anyone even know we are here, and will they like what we have when they find us.

The selling issue became more important when i took in consigners. I can be pretty laid back about selling my own things, since this is all a fun adventure for me, but when it involved others my perspective changed. It became more important to me that my vendors sell things than any need for me to sell my own things. I want them to feel successful in their endeavors.

It also changed my perspective when i decided to give 15% of my sales to the "Support our Troops Campaign" at our church.

It's interesting to me that at the end of the day I am not thinking about how much i have sold, but how my vendors did, and how much did we make to give to the troops.

So I have concluded that my changed perspective is a good thing.
It is surely true that it is more blessed to give than to receive,
whether it is your time, or your money.


Blessings to you as you give freely of yourself to others.