Live Loved. Spread Joy:

For many years I have worked at the Bridge of Storm Lake in Storm Lake, Iowa.  I love that organization, and I will often talk about it and it’s impact that it has made on my life.  (If you have read a lot of my past blogs-you know this to already be true).  I am excited that I get to help lead the summer team as this is my 6th summer and help to make leaders out of these young adults and college students. One thing about the Bridge is that they have a coffee enterprise called, Endless Sea Coffee.  They will have the young children participate and help roast and ground the coffee in order to start selling it to customers as well as those who buy monthly subscriptions.  (Like me!)  I get a 12 oz. bag of Endless Sea Coffee every month that I am able to enjoy.  Besides the fact that I love coffee, I love that the coffee enterprise is also helping young people prosper and learn how to roast, sort, and even sell something to the general public.  They are getting exposure to real life experiences.  

Another thing is the quote or main motto of the Endless Sea Coffee which is “Live Loved. Spread Joy.”  I think that this is pretty powerful, and it is an important reminder that when a person lives feeling loved, they can also more easily spread joy.  It is harder to be able to spread joy when one is feeling not very loved, and is not feeling very appreciated. It is then really hard to want to appreciate others and to share encouragement and love to others.  Towards the end of finishing my second year of teaching, it was becoming harder and harder for me to feel loved.  The school year has ended and while it was ending the students were more and more disrespectful and maybe even less appreciative of the work that goes into teaching. There were even some harder situations with some coworkers.   Therefore, I did notice that it was so much harder for me to show love to those who are around me.  When I was feeling down on myself and feeling that unloved feeling, I noticed that I was more impatient with my students and others around me. 

How can it be easy to feel loved even in the moments when people are crabby? The problem with only being kind and loving when you feel loved by those around you is that there are going to be times when others are not as loving or as kind, we should still be responsible for being loving and being kind.  Jeremiah 31:3 says this, “The Lord appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.”  The Lord has an everlasting love for us, not just a love that lasts for a little while, not a love that lasts for our lifetime, but rather a love that lasts for our lives as well as beyond, so even when there are those times when people don’t show love, we can try to remember that God loves us and that is the love that we need to be spreading around.  

Now once you are filled with God’s love or there is that everlasting love that is present.  The Lord not only gives us unending love, but he also helps give us the joy that we then could spread to others.  The Bible says in John 15:11, “these things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”  I really enjoy this verse and the imagery it gives me.  I love the ending of this verse because it reminds me that really the best way to continually be filled with this joy is through spreading time with the Lord.  We can not fully understand how much the Lord loves us unless we really spend time with the Lord.  Therefore, spreading more and more time with the Lord will continually help us realize the joy and love and therefore, then we can spread that joy to others.  

The two ways that I believe a person can best show joy.  The first is through our lips and through the words that we speak.  It is important that we take the time to speak words that are truth filled, encouraging, loving, and kind.  Overall, the words that will be spoken will be joy-filled when we are praising the Lord.  For example, Psalm 71:23, “My lips will shout for joy, when I sing praises to you; my soul also, which you have redeemed.”  When we are praising the Lord, we can’t help but sound joy-filled and loving.  Therefore, others will hear those words and even just an ounce of joy will fill the world with more joy and love.  

Besides our words, the main way to spread joy is through actions. Service and generosity are two of the biggest ways that one can show their actions.  One of the best ways I have tried to remember thinking about who I can spread joy to is to think about who I can show kindness to each day and who I can bless each week. Therefore, I am spending time thinking about how I can serve someone and what I can give to others.  Overall, this world can be so very hard, so it can be very hard to feel loved at times.  That is why it is very important that we have the reminders of feeling loved and spreading joy.  It can not always be easy to feel loved.  I want you to remember that you are loved and the Holy Spirit can provide you with the joy that will better help you to spread that joy then to the others in the world.