Contagious in the Best Way

There is so much sickness going around right now. I honestly think at least half the people I know are battling something. Even as I write this, my husband is at home sick, coughing his way down the hallway. Meanwhile, I’m over here washing my hands like it’s my full-time job, eating all the veggies, and doing nasal saline like a champ—doing everything I can to stay well.

We all know we can’t be completely bulletproof, but I figure I might as well do what’s within my control. And somewhere between another hand-wash and a deep breath, a thought quietly settled into my heart: I wish love, patience, and kindness were as contagious as viruses.

You know how it works with illness—you don’t even have to try. Just being near someone can infect you. It spreads effortlessly, often without intention. And then it hit me. That’s exactly how we’re called to live. We are meant to carry something so good, so life-giving, that simply being in our presence leaves people changed.

What if patience rubbed off the way germs do? What if kindness lingered in the air? What if love spread quietly from one heart to another just because we showed up with grace? Scripture reminds us that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control—and fruit is meant to be shared.

Maybe in a world full of sickness, stress, and short tempers, our calling is to be carriers of something better. Something healing. Something holy. May we be so filled with Christ’s love that it overflows—uncontainable, unmistakable, and beautifully contagious.

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:35

January 9, 2026 Morning Brew

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