Spreading the Postive

  It is award season. This is the time of the when the celebrities gather to eat expensive food, drink expensive wines, wear over the top clothing and pat each other on the back. (Obviously I'm not a fan.) I honestly don't care about any of the award shows unless my stepdaughter Carrie is nominated for something.
  I wish there was an award show for real people who do really cool things. If there was such a show I would nominate KSBJ FM, a contemporary Christian radio station near Houston Texas.
  I heard about this station from my stepdaughter, Elin. They have a campaign called "Love That Sticks". What they are doing is encouraging their listeners to show their love of God to others by writing encouraging messages and Bible verses on sticky notes and leaving them in various places around town. They want to hear from people who have left or found notes. Listeners can take pictures of notes found or left and post them to various social media sites with the hash tag lovethatsticks.
  We are very good at spreading bad news. It's not hard to find endless accounts of the multitude of bad and horrible things that happen every day. It's easier than ever to pick people apart, to criticize and find fault. We can dump on athletes for missing that crucial kick or failing to score enough points to win the big game. Some people get amusement out of criticizing how others dress and act. Many companies tend to focus more on what their employees aren't doing well. If you ever want confirmation that you are just not good enough it's pretty easy to find.
   That's why I like this campaign so much. Anything that spreads a positive message rates high in my book. How can you not like a group that encourages people to say nice things? What I really like is that they want their listeners to leave notes not just for friends and families, but also strangers. The station's website suggests that listeners leave notes in places like gyms and grocery store bathrooms.
  I went to Facebook and looked under the hash tag to see what people were actually doing with this campaign. A woman posted a picture of a note left in a gym bathroom. It was stuck under the mirror and said, "You are amazing never forget that". Another note posted on a mirror said, "Don't bother! You look beautiful! God loves you!" Another person posted a picture of a note left on some plastic bottles of honey at a grocery store. On the note was written, " You are loved because you are sweet". The radio station posted a picture of a note left on a stapler that said, "I see your effort and you are doing an amazing job!!!" How would you like to see that?
  A young adult group in an area church is getting into the act and leaving notes. Children are leaving notes for their parents and parents are leaving notes for their children. Another church had some special sticky notes made to hand out to people so they can share positive messages. A ministry group in Katy Texas posted a picture of some notes they intend to leave. People who are finding notes are posting pictures and pledging to leave notes in return.
  I felt good just looking at all the posts. Not a single negative comment to be found. No trolls talking about the notes causing pollution. No one mocking the note leavers for being deluded and believing in a fairytale. Nothing but happy, grateful people who want to share their happiness and gratitude with others.
  Why can't more of this happen? Just the little bit I've seen on Facebook leads me to believe that this is a good thing. You don't even have to be a member of any faith to do it. An uplifting message is an uplifting message. The best part is that it is a win-win thing to do. Leaving a positive message can bring some joy to someone else. To quote James Barrie "Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves."
  I'm going to take my hat off to KSBJ (just for a minute though, it's cold out today). Keep up the good work and keep encouraging people to spread the positive.
 Information for this column was taken from ksjb.org and Facebook #lovethatsticks