1-28-18
Welcome back for the last in our series on joy. In case you missed it, we’ve thought about what joy is and some things that can try to take it from us. Let’s talk about how to share our joy.
What’s something you get excited about? Pride and Prejudice, Lady Earl Grey tea, and fall mornings that smell like a promise make me a little giddy. And the Overdrive app. If I find out you like to read, I will spend the next five minutes rambling about how it’s the greatest thing since the option to change the page color to sepia on kindle.
Now what about faith? Tea isn’t for everyone, strange as that sounds, but God can be. Wouldn’t it be great if that same bubble of enthusiasm that just bursts right out of us about our favorite TV show happened about our Father? Because that’s where our joy really comes from. No matter what life throws at us, He can always give us hope.
I’m not a good conversation starter. Get me in a small group setting or one on one and start small talk, and I’ll squash my introvert self and keep up. Usually. But when I want to talk about something like faith, I’m very awkward. Especially if I don’t know how the other person feels about God.
So what to do? Here are three ideas:
1.Offer to pray. If someone is having a bad day, simply say that I will be praying for them. That opens a lot of conversations. And if the person doesn’t seem interested, it’s easy to tell. People in difficult circumstances can be the most eager for any ray of sun.
2.Give God the credit. I used to talk about being “lucky” I got to do something. Now more often I say I am blessed. It’s true, and it’s an easy way to start a conversation about God.
3.Be happy. When someone is cheerful most of the time, don’t you wonder why? I do. Be happy. Make people wonder.
Sing to the Lord, bless His name; Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day. Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples. For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods. – Psalms 96:2-4
Even when it’s scary, when it’s hard, when people give us funny looks, let’s share our faith. People can always make up their own minds about it. A lot of people won’t be interested. But what about the person who might only have you to reach out?
May the Lord bless and keep you,
Heather
Heather Tabata 