Sharing Joy

Someone sent me this remarkable youtube video yesterday. The video is an advertisement sponsored by T-Mobile.

For those of you who can’t access YouTube: T-Mobile planted dancers posing as commuters in the train station in Liverpool, England. Suddenly, sometime during either morning or evening rush hour, music begins to blare from the loudspeakers in the train station and the dancers begin dancing to the music. Before the video is over, their joyous motion has become contagious, and other real commuters begin dancing as well – from senior citizens to young urbanites.

It’s fun to watch.

The video reminds me of a commercial that my husband particularly likes. I frankly don’t even remember what is being advertised, but it shows a person doing a good deed. The person to whom the good deed was done, being so grateful, performs a good deed to another, and so on.

Both of these advertisements illustrate just how contagious joy can be.

I used to work with someone who would come to my office every morning to greet me with a dour face. I would reluctantly ask her, “How are you?” knowing full well what the answer would be. Though I liked this woman, I found that she could negatively impact my mood almost immediately.

I also worked with a woman who was always in a good mood. No matter what happened, she always saw the good side. She was funny and laughed a lot. As a result, she made others laugh too.

The second woman, who remains a good friend of mine (she’s the one who says jeepers), is also a devout Christian-Catholic.

Really, when you think about it, how can you not be filled with joy if you believe in God, who takes care of us? While it’s often easier said than done, we should allow God to shoulder all of our burdens and be delighted to have such a friend as He.

Lift up our hearts to God.