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Sweet Springs

March

At a church yard sale some months ago I purchased a box of many greeting cards at a
reduced price (love those church yard sales and flea markets). I filed them into categories
to make use of them and found that some of the categories did not fit where I am in my
life: “I fell in love w/you…,” or “I’m sorry I hurt you …let’s make up!” But
today, I received an Email from my counselor friend, Harry Olson, Ph.D. who sends a
“Weekly Tip for Champions” from his company, Maximum Potential Inc.
(www.harryolson.com).
The weekly tip was to “SURPRISE A FRIEND OR COLLEAGUE WITH
SOMETHING NICE. A little gift or note, or perhaps a nice gesture - out of the blue.”
He ended his weekly tip with, “A little positive surprise, then, may be just the lift that
person needs.” A light bulb went off in my head; here is a good chance to send one of
those cards and I’ll send it to Harry to show I read his “Weekly Tips”; that I appreciate
him. But, as always, God is good! I got another tip as I looked at the back of the card I
was about to send! There was a lot of writing there that I felt compelled to read before
sending it to Harry. Sort of like Emails that you receive, and need to read ‘the whole
thing’ twice and/or research it on “HOAX” before sending it to another.
So I began reading this note. It was so heartwarming. It began with, “Don’t you
just dream of living in a community where its citizens encourage each other and delight
in the everyday joys of life? Welcome to Sweet Springs U.S.A. where life is pure and
simple. Well, “Sweet Springs is this kind of place…and I think a place where the Lord
invites us to be.”
I thought, ‘Wow’, wouldn’t it be great if Westminster’s mission for its citizens
was to encourage each other and delight in the everyday joys of life? Is it possible to
have a mission such as that and have it working daily. I know my daughter loves West-
minster when she visits. She says, “Mom, you go to the grocery store and strangers talk
to you!” At first she thought they were my friends. So, maybe there is somewhat work-
ing in this city already; but if we read the mission statement every morning, we could go
out into the city (into the world) expecting ‘to encourage each other’ and make an effort
to really ‘delight in the everyday joys of life’ that God has provided us. We would look
forward to greeting one another thinking, as Harry Olson points out, that we may be mak-
ing a positive difference in someone’s life. The note on the back of the card ended with:
“…love one another with a pure heart…” (1Peter1:22).
We have been taught these things. None of this is new. It is just that we seem to
forget that our purpose in life is to glorify God, to love God with all our heart and soul
and to love our neighbor as ourselves. What better way to love a neighbor than to en-
courage them

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