Sharing and Catching Joy

I had an unusual experience on a flight once. Ten minutes after the plane took off, a baby in the aisle across from me started laughing as his mom played with him.

It started as a chuckle, then grew into a giggle. For the next fifteen minutes he kept laughing.

I watched (and heard) joy spread like a ripple out to everyone around the baby. Passengers started smiling, then giggling, and several started laughing. There is a unique and disarming quality to a baby's laugh; it was a beautiful sight.

Joy is contagious. It can brighten the day of everyone around us, yet costs nothing to have. This was an obvious time to catch the joy around me, but there are other times where joy is there if I would just look for it.

Be open to joy. Share that joy. It's free, but helps us and those around us in ways we may never realize. It helps me remember what I'm grateful for and the blessings I have but sometimes take for granted.

How can we take what that baby did for those around him and apply it to our lives? How big will the ripple of your joy be?