Claim Your Blessings Today!

Several years ago I wanted to run a promotion for my skin care product that I had newly re-branded. I met with the owner of a popular coupon magazine that circulates monthly here in Utah. After receiving advice from a successful local business owner, I decided it would be a fantastic idea to offer my product for free in this magazine! A shipping fee of $9 would cover the cost of the manufacturing on each product as well as packaging, the cost to mail it, and hopefully the cost to place the ad. This same idea with this same shipping amount, offered in this same magazine, is what launched this certain business owner's success. I was so excited to follow suit!

Because my product had been an As Seen on TV product, I had that advantage over the other business owner. I was sure that I would have just as much, if not more success with this offer. I paid the large amount of money for my ad to be featured with fingers crossed that enough people would claim the free product to cover that cost. The ad was big, beautiful, had striking colors and font and my very best before and after pictures. The title of the ad was FREE!! The details explained the coupon was good for one free product (excluding shipping) and explained the benefits of the product with bullet points. I was very excited for it to run.

Without any doubt, I was certain that several hundred people or more would claim this free offer. It was an incredible deal because the product truly was free. The product sold for retail at $20 a jar. In fact, in order to be eligible to place the ad, I had to have 2,000 products made as the magazine owner told me I could expect to surely get half of that as a minimum claimed on my offer.

The day the magazine came in the mail, I opened it up to find my ad. I was so excited! I checked my online store several times a day to see the status. And....as the hours, days, and weeks passed by...nothing. No one claimed my offer. I could not believe it! Towards the end of the month I was amazed to see that one person had claimed my offer. A couple years later when we moved, I became her neighbor and when she learned I was the owner of this product, she told me she had a jar that she had claimed on the free offer. She told me how much she loved it. She had no idea that she was the only one who had claimed the free offer.

For several months I could not wrap my mind around this. I could not believe that only one person saw the value of this offer and claimed it. There were so many people who saw the ad, saw what it could do for their feet, saw that it was free, and all they had to do was go to the link and enter the code. It was so simple! There would never be such a good deal offered again.

Years later, I ran a similar promotion on social media and again, this time, no one claimed the offer. Months passed and I ran another free promotion in which I went to the fan page of my product. I notified everyone on social media that all they had to do was like, share, or comment on the post, and they would be entered in a drawing in which I would pick several winners  to win free product with free shipping! They could enter as many times as they liked and the contest was only 24 hours.

Again, I was amazed. Only a handful of people responded and so every person who entered won. I could not believe how many loyal customers and fans did not make the easy effort to get the product they always purchase for free. I wondered if they doubted they would win, or doubted it was actually free, or just too busy to take the step.

Lastly, I recently held a promotion where I drew several winners who each won $50 of free product plus free shipping. The winners were very excited to have won, however to this day not one of them have claimed their prize. On the contrary, for the past several years, whenever I offer a discount such as buy 5 get 5 free or 50% off, my orders explode. I have learned that when something is free, people do not associate value with it. However, when something  is slightly discounted and the customer must also pay for shipping, they attach a value to that and jump on the opportunity.

As I have pondered this, I made a connection to the Plan of Salvation and our blessings that the Father has in store for us. Salvation is for everyone, you don't have to earn it or pay for it. Jesus already paid the price and His gift is free to all who will just accept it. As simple and incredible as it seems, many do not jump at the opportunity.

Spiritual gifts are also free, they are a gift to us. However, many of us do not claim them.

There are mountains of blessings being stored for each of us, all we have to do is claim them. However, many of us never make the simple effort to claim them. I imagine giant warehouses all over Heaven full of blessings, just sitting on the shelves, waiting to be claimed.

Maybe we are deceived to think that there is catch, nothing can really be free can it? Or, do we think if something is free, it must not be very valuable, so what's the point of checking it out? Or are we simply lazy, thinking it seems like work to have to claim an offer. You have go to the link, click on it, enter your information. Maybe we'll just wait until we have some free time or wait until the next offer comes around.

Living the gospel can seem like work at times. Going to church every Sunday, giving service, paying tithing, studying scriptures, praying, and the list goes on. Sure what's being offered sounds wonderful, but we'll get around to it when we have more time.

Are you claiming your gifts, your blessings, and your place in God's Kingdom? It's there for the taking, and you don't even have to pay for shipping. What are you waiting for? I know that when you claim all the Father has to give you, it is then you find your greatest peace and happiness! I say this in the name of Jesus Christ amen.