SOWING SEEDS - OF SMILES :)

Ever wonder how to change the atmosphere of a current situation or environment you're in?

Anyone who's ever been to a big city and walked the streets or taken public transportation knows that in today's world, everyone is very self consumed and very much in a hurry to get somewhere.  Little focus is given to those around them, and it's definitely not the norm to associate with strangers.

Back in the States, Linda enjoyed walking through Wal-Mart (boy do we miss it already), smiling and saying hello to strangers.  Everyone in such a hurry, with only their personal needs on their mind.  But you never know what someone is going through, who could use a little encouragement - even just the encouragement of a smile.

When we smile, we are sharing the Joy that is within - like a small gift, given unconditionally - to all those who are willing to receive it.  Now, not everyone is willing to accept this gift.  Some are just too consumed to pay any attention.  Some wonder what your ulterior motive is, surely you wouldn't be smiling at them for no reason...Some people have forgotten what it is like to smile, their lives are so full of hurt, bitterness, fear, anger, or pain.

When we visited Israel last year, we were being ourselves, and just happy to be here, and we wanted to share that with every passer-by - but we realized our "state of happiness" was not as well received as we had hoped.  Many times it for the same reasons as we mentioned above - people are the same all over the world.  Also, here, we somewhat stand out, although we strive to become "locals" and not appear to have a "tourist" or "foreigner" look.  We also thought the men were not responding as Linda would give a passing greeting of "Shalom!" due to a male-female etiquette of some sort.  What we have found this time around, is that the women respond (or should we say don't respond) in the same way.

Now don't misunderstand, not everyone ignores our greetings.  We do not want to paint a negative portrait of the people, they are very kind and helpful whenever we need them.  What we are speaking of,  any one of you would experience in any big city as we've already mentioned.

So, what is our mission?  Change the atmosphere - one smile at a time.

Walking to and from the bus stop... we may even see the same people each day since we go the same time every morning!  They will get to know us by our smiles :)  Hopefully it will brighten their day, and maybe someday they will ask us why we are always so happy...

On the busses...  Now this is the place to let your Light shine!  We will have a whole blog post in the future designated to the bus.  Neither one of us have ever used the public bus system before - and certainly never had to depend on it on a daily basis.  More on this later... :)


In the grocery stores...in public buildings...in the shuk...

Oh, my!!! The shuk.  This as we mentioned in a previous post is Israel's version of the farmer's market.  One of the most amazing places to go.  Even if you don't buy anything (which we can't imagine...).  this would be a great place to go and people watch. We really want to share more about the shuk, and probably will do a post on it later as well.  But for today's post, we'll say that we haven't quite gotten acclimated to the frenzied atmosphere of the shuk yet to be able to sow as many seeds there... It's quite a whirlwind.  But - we will conquer it and begin planting our seeds there, too - won't they be surprised at our calm exterior - once we can get a calm interior! :)

None the less, we have our work cut out for us, with daily opportunities.  But if one smile brightens one person's day, it is a step in the right direction.  "A cheerful heart brings a smile to your face; a sad heart makes it hard to get through the day."  Proverbs 15:13 (The Message)

We can sow, sometimes we will be watering , and yet another time we may reap.

The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.  

Will you take the time to sow even more smiles of your own today?

PS...you may have already noticed this, but if you click on a picture, it will enlarge it - just remember to use the back button to go back to the post :)  Also, to view our previous posts from 2010, use the archive listing on the right side of the blog page. Todah! (thanks)