For friends...

On Sunday I spent 9 hours at a friend's place painting this mural on their two-year-old son's bedroom wall. They're expecting a second child in a few months and their son is moving into this room to make way for the new addition. The boy loves Thomas the Tank Engine and wanted this for his room, and with my painting experience and having also painted a mural for my own children's bedroom I was confident I could get the job done.

Amber, the boy's mother, helped me with the mural and we worked well together as a team. Though it was a lot of work and I was quite tired at the end of it all, it was very enjoyable and very satisfying.

I realise what an awesome gift I was able to give them and their son, because there will be years of enjoyment that they will get from the mural. It's amazing how a gift that took nine hours to give can create such a lasting enjoyment.

Those are the gifts that have tremendous value. What's interesting is that is cost me nothing, yet it has a lot more value than any gift we have given them or their son.

Time is valuable, when we value it. When we can do good things with our time and give our time to others we can have a huge effect on them.

What is also interesting is the positive feeling I now have from creating this for them, and the strengthening of our friendship as a result.