Joy Makers 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. 

Joy Makers 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.

Joy Makers 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.