Hey there,Reader !

It's MeiMei here this week!

In today's newsletter I want to talk to you a bit about the idea of "opening your eyes." Something that I know many of us fall prey to is having "blinders" on during a busy or stressful season.

We often focus on one thing -- which can be considered our end goal -- and that limits our distractions and keeps us from straying from our main task. I'm not implying that this is a bad thing whatsoever, because there truly are times when we need to focus on one thing and leave everything else out in order to accomplish what's necessary. However, this mindset or way of viewing the world can sometimes rob us of the beauty surrounding us or opportunities God has provided us with.

Before my family moved back to the US, my mom and I went to the Bund in Shanghai where you can see the iconic Shanghai skyline and historical Peace Hotel. We were there to take some photos of my in a Baylor T-Shirt (for memories 💚💛 ). We had a mission -- to take fun and cute photos to look back on -- but we weren't blinded by it.

As we were walking we noticed a young disabled boy in a wheelchair with his grandparents, taking photos just like we were. They had a lovely camera and the grandparents were switching back and forth taking photos of the other grandparent with their grandson.

However, they were unable to take a photo of the three of them together. 💔

My mom nudged me to and offer to take a family photo of them. While I wanted to... it was out of my comfort zone.

After a few moments of hesitation I went up and asked them in Chinese if they would like me to take a photo of the three of them. They were elated and so incredibly grateful. So much so that they asked me and my mom to be in a photo with their grandson! I'm so glad that I reached out, even though I was a bit uncomfortable. Now they can have a photo memory together with their precious grandson. 💕

Another instance where I had my eyes "open" was shortly after my mom and I returned to the US at the beginning of June. In the midst of our jet-lag we decided to go walking around our neighborhood as the sun rose (who doesn't love a nice sunrise walk, right?).

One of my favorite things about where we live in Texas is that deer live in our neighborhood! 🦌They are most active at dawn and dusk so you can see a lot of deer when walking early in the morning (we often saw 20+ deer on our walks). Having been a big city girl for my entire childhood, I didn't get as many chances to see wild animals or large swaths of nature (a bit tragic for a little girl who wanted to be a garden when she grew up 😂) and so every time we ran into a couple of deer I naturally wanted to stop and record them and talk to them in cute animal voices.

I was so excited whenever we saw the deer. Eventually, I had to cease stopping each time... but if I only focused on walking, I may not have noticed the vast number of deer that we passed.

All in all, I hope that this week you might set out to open your eyes. I understand that it's hard to stop when we have a purpose but sometimes when we have "blinders" on, we miss something so beautiful that is just to the left or the right of us. And we might miss the opportunity to help someone or show kindness.✨

How are you planning to open your eyes this week? Please share any opportunities you had to serve others once your blinders were off.

Until next time! 💕MeiMei
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