One of my hilarious friends sent this picture to me with the caption, “I just went Christmas shopping, and now I am choosing joy. It’s a choice right?” LOL! I cracked up because I had just experienced one of those “joy is a choice days” as well. As I stood in a very long grocery line earlier that day I had much time to observe. Things just felt off. They felt sad. There were quite a few scenarios going on around me that just showed me, there was such sadness, people were hurting. In the midst of a global pandemic, the holidays, so many stories were represented in that line with me. I didn’t know one of them, but I saw the hurt and sadness.
The lady behind me grew angrier and angrier as she was waiting in line. With a few curse words flying here and there she was over it all. Chose joy? How Lord? “Serve, Step Out, See miracles.” It all starts with the serve. And immediately my heart went to the lady behind me. Oh she was mad! I was almost afraid to turn around for fear I might get hit with a flying can of peas! I turned around and asked her if she would like to go in front of me. I would gladly take her place and she could get though the line faster. Her first reaction was “What?” “Why?” I explained that I was not in a hurry and would be glad to switch places. You know what happened next? Tears. She began to cry and she said “that is the first nice thing anyone has done for me since I can even remember!” We switched places, and she was next in line. As her groceries were being bagged, she began to share……
What this lady had been through in a year made my issues look so benign. She needed to share. I listened. My heart broke for her brokenness. Her mask was wet from tears and you could tell her weight was lifted by someone just listening. That’s all! Just listening! As she left, she pulled down her mask from afar, smiled, and said “thank you, you helped me have hope again.” I watched her walk through the doors and I just whispered a prayer under my breath for her. I may never see her again, but her conversation was a treasure to my heart that day. A joy changer! I will continue to pray for her and her family.
As she left I thought to myself, it was just asking her to go in front of me, just listening that made a difference. Such a small thing! And that gave her hope? We never know do we? We never know the story someone else is living, the load they are carrying.
It is all in the serve. That serve filled my heart with renewed joy and helped me choose joy and was a game changer. As Ann Voskamp, my favorite author says….”Be the gift”. We can be the biggest gift to a hurting world. Small things make a big difference. It is my goal, more than ever this year, to “serve others, step outside of my comfort zone, and see miracles unfold.” God is already there waiting! #joyhappens #bethegift #servestepoutseemiracles #outsideofthebox