Spreading joy at the post office

The other day my younger friend and I decided to run a few errands, one of them being dropping off a return at the post office. A perfect opportunity to spread some Joy.

We pulled into the post office parking lot, grabbed a blank Joy Makers card to write a note of encouragement with, and got writing!

We did our return like usual and right after we thanked the post office worker, my younger friend handed her a note of encouragement saying something along the lines of “this is for you and we are just out here trying to spread some love and joy”

The worker smiled, looked at us and said something along the lines of, “Thank you, in all my years working here I’ve never received anything like this, this is my first, you just made my day!”

Spreading Joy is more simple than we think. What if individuals and communities looked for opportunities to spread Joy to one another, can you imagine what that would do for our culture?

Let’s spread the good stuff, friend :)

Spreading joy on Mothers Day

The night before Mothers day I was pondering to myself, “how could I spread some joy tomorrow, who might need some joy in their day?” I thought some Joy could be spread to a working mother at one of the open stores, perhaps working on Mother’s day wasn’t so much a preference but a nessecity. So I wrote a note of encouragement the evening before stating, “Dear Mother” and so on, and was planning to purchase a small bouquet and randomly give it to someone the following day, Mother’s day.

Fast forward to the morning of Mother’s day, I woke up and one mother in particular was heavy on my heart. I felt weight on my shoulders, burdened, and concerned for this person. I was able to connect with this person in the afternoon over the phone and soon found out for various reasons, she was having a challenging and overwhelming day. My heart hurt for her, I didn’t know how to lift her spirit. As I started to pray, and idea popped in my head. Maybe the bouquet and note of encouragement is for THIS mother!

So the adventure began. I grabbed a small bouquet and strawberries from the local grocery store (I know this person loves strawberries), grabbed that note of encouragement, dropped it off at that mother’s door step, knocked quickly, and zipped away!

Sometimes we can’t fix a big problem at hand, but we can help others know, they’re not alone in the midst of the trials. Joy builds resilience. Let’s help each other build resilience through spreading Joy.

Spreading joy through text messages

This is a joy spreading tip, tried and tested

Grab a group of folks together, think of someone you all know, think of why you appreciate them. Write it out in a text to that person you all know. Send that text all at the same time. The more people, the better.

Spreading joy in the Highschool Cafeteria

I remember in Highschool there were many times I felt lonely, isolated, and discouraged. My body would often times be fatigued and weighed down by the brokenness amongst peer interactions and hurting individuals. I so badly wanted to help show people they were loved by God and spread Joy, at times it felt overwhelming on where to start. 

I remember a thought came to mind one day, "Kailey, it's about one person at a time, be My light, one person at a time." I wondered if that was God speaking to me. It brought peace, hope, and lifted the weight off my shoulders. "One person at a time, I can do that!" I thought to myself, feeling encouraged.

One day, I noticed a student in the lunch cafeteria sitting alone. I also noticed some students close by picking on him. I felt protective and hated what I was seeing, it was wrong. I may or may not of given a stern look at the student's being bullies and simultaneously thought to myself, "I'd like to sit with that student sitting alone and see if he'd like to be friends." So, I went and sat with this individual. From time to time after that first lunch, I'd find this new friend at lunch and sit with him. I deeply enjoyed that time of connecting with him and wondered how those lunch times were for him, too. I know for me, it was refreshing and life giving to sit with him, it brought so much Joy to my heart. I remember each time we ate together, feeling like something simple but profound was happening, but I wasn't sure.

Fast forward to about 6+ years after that interaction, I get a message over Facebook from that very individual I spent occasional lunch times with. With this friend's permission and hopes to encourage you, this is what they wrote: 

"This was several years ago. I was a sophomore in high school and Kailey was a senior. I was eating lunch by myself, messing around with 3D imaging on my computer when Kailey came over and sat with me. It was the first time we had met and it was really awesome to be accepted by someone who was a complete stranger to me. Everyone who I (air quotes) “hung out with” would not treat me as part of the group or at lunch time when I would show up and sit with them they would immediately get up and leave all at once with full trays of food. I felt like an outsider and that no one wanted to be around me. When Kailey sat with me at lunch that day I had a different outlook on things. That I am not an outsider I just need to find the right people to be around. I still struggled with finding acceptance from people for a couple of years but that was due to things in my personal life that I thought would be a deterrent for people to be around me."

Upon receiving this message, I was surprised and humbled. This message came to me at a time I was struggling myself. This friend who took time to write out a message to me, lifted my spirits and spread Joy to me, too.

May we never underestimate what one act of spreading Joy can do to impact someone's life, whether that be making a new friend at lunch or sending an encouraging message, Joy is worth spreading. 

Joy Challenge: What does spreading Joy, "one person at a time" look like for you?

Experiencing joy in the parking lot

As I was reflecting on Joy Makers Project today and God’s hand in it all, I was reminded of a time when I was questioning if starting Joy Makers Project was ever a good idea and how God answered my wondering within that same hour of wonder.

It was about 2 years ago, I was in rough shape emotionally and had felt like my world flipped upside down after some painful breakages in relationships with important people in my life at that time. My body was weary, fatigued, and worn down, I felt depressed, confused, and anxious.

Someone, knowing I was in rough shape, wanted to help encourage me and suggested I went out and did a Joy Makers walk, they knew in the past I found great purpose in pursuing Joy Makers Project and thought it might life my spirit and encourage me.

So I decided to do just that, go for a Joy Makers walk. But instead of pursuing a random act of kindness, I just asked God to confirm to me on this walk or give me some sort of sign I should keep pursuing Joy Makers Project, because I was struggling, and struggling to know if I, a depressed individual at that time, should be pursuing something like Joy Makers Project, when I wasn’t experiencing much Joy myself at all.

The walk began and about a 1/2 hour in I was walking by a local school. As I was walking by I heard a voice saying something along the lines of, “Hey you! It’s you! Remember me from Joy Makers Project, the mom of the child you gave the basketball too? I’m picking my daughter up right now, the one you gave that basketball to, she’s on varsity basketball you know!” As she finished sharing that, her daughter walked up to the car and her and I smiled with Joy, me saying “wow, it’s really good to see you and you’ve grown up so much.” I was shocked with this unexpected interaction. In that moment my body went from weary and worn down to feeling light, energized, and hopeful.

This person’s daughter was one of the first Joy Makers gifts I had given away when I initially started going out and spreading Joy. I gave away that basketball when I was on a walk to a park nearby, on my way to go hand out other Joy Gifts in the form of a couple sports equipment such as a soccer ball and maybe a jump rope at the time. This person went on to share how much that act of kindness to her daughter had meant and over the years how she had been following along with Joy Makers Project. I hadn’t seen that person in over 4 years.

God answered my wondering through that small interaction that day. I am thankful for His reminder that yes, it was a good idea to have started Joy Makers Project several years ago and it still is a good idea to continue pursuing Joy Makers Project today. After all, this idea, really started as a God idea, and I hope it continues to become something that spreads the Joy of God to those around.

With gratitude,

Kailey

Experiencing joy in Cambodia

I recently had an opportunity to visit some friends in Cambodia and I learned something about Joy while there. The power of a smile can produce transferable joy. At times I felt sad, wishing I could speak the language more easily, I wanted to relationally connect with the locals. Yet while I did not speak the native language in Cambodia, there were plenty of opportunities to genuinely smile to those I interacted with. There was one moment in particular, I had just got off a small "tuk tuk" vehicle (look it up if you haven't heard of one, they're cool!) with some friends, was walking into a market and saw an individual reading a book quietly. We made eye contact and a big smile came to my face and I noticed a big smile on theirs too. In that moment I experienced peace, lightness, and happiness. I wanted that person to know they were loved and am hoping that smile interaction communicated just that, they're loved. I know for me, their smile communicated I was loved, just that small, little interaction, and it was beautiful. 

May we never underestimate experiencing and spreading joy through a smile, wherever you are. 

Spreading joy at Goodwill

Today a couple Joy Makers and I were running a couple errands, one being to drop some donations off at Good Will Thrift Store here in West Michigan. Of course, we decided to bop in and peruse the isles of the store looking for treasures and as we were doing that, an idea came to mind. What if we were to place notes of encouragement around the store, hiding in the nooks and cranny's where soon to be thrifted treasures would be found? So that is what we did. We grabbed a couple of Joy Makers note cards, filled them out with whatever encouragement came to mind, and then the adventure began. We placed a card or two in a show box, behind a kitchen appliance, next to a pantry item, and much more. We felt excited, happy, and filled with Joy to take an ordinary moment at the Goodwill Thrift store, becoming something extraordinary.

Spreading joy at the gas station

The other day a Joy Maker and I went out to run some errands. As we were filling up gas in the car, we decided to stop in the gas station to spread Joy via gifting the cashier with a gift card to a local coffee shop nearby, just because. As we were waiting in line, the Joy Maker with me felt a little nervous, excited, and maybe experienced some butterflies in the stomach, adrenaline rushing, “how will the recipient of this gift card respond? Will they like it, will they think it’s weird?” She thought. As the line got smaller and it became our turn, I realized to my surprise, I already knew the cashier, it was a friend of mine and she had just happened to start her work shift! The other Joy Maker with me was able to hand the gift card to the cashier (my friend) and said something along the lines of “this is for you, we are just trying to spread Joy and wanted to spread Joy to you!” And off we went, back at it with running errands, walking away all three of us, myself, the other Joy Maker, and my cashier friend. The other Joy Maker and I felt joy, and gratitude for having that opportunity to spread Joy and we hope it brought Joy to my cashier friend, too.