SPRINKLE JOY

Seahorse decorative statues - “To write or even speak English is not a science but an art. There are no reliable words. Whoever writes English is involved in a struggle that never lets up even for a sentence. He is struggling against vagueness, against obscurity, against the lure of the decorative adjective, against the encroachment of Latin and Greek, and, above all, against the worn-out phrases and dead metaphors with which the language is cluttered up.”

"Sprinkle joy," said Ralph Waldo Emerson. And at least one little creature seems to do just that.

There is a small bird in the northwest part of the United States called the ouzel, or the American Dipper. This unusual bird lives around fast rushing water, sometimes nesting behind water falls. It has been seen flying in and out of white water rapids of mountain rivers that crash and splash through steep and rocky canyons. It loves the violent, noisy, chaotic life of the rugged river environment.

And through it all, it sings! When rain falls in sheets, when wind blows in a violent fury, when other birds huddle in sheltered nooks against the rage of the storm, the dipper frolics in the tempest and blissfully sings.

Don't you love to be around people like that? People who don't wait for circumstances to change or for happy times to come before they laugh and sing? People who can be happy in the confusion and chaos of life?

These people do not expect life to make them happy. Nor do they spend time looking for joy - instead, they decide to give it away. Like that remarkable little bird, they can be found in the midst of life's turbulence, enthusiastic and hopeful.

These resilient people teach us an important lesson about survival. They show us that people who "sprinkle joy" grow stronger. Sprinkled joy immunizes them against despair during difficult and tumultuous times. They actually weather storms better because of a lifetime habit of approaching difficulties with a glad heart.

JOY - it's not just for the birds.

From Lifesupport.