Cheerful hearts

A cheerful heart is a good med­i­cine,
but a down­cast spirit dries up the bones.
~Proverbs 17:22 

Quotography’s prompt is healing this week. My take on this is the healing of the heart and soul, which I think some­times can be a little more com­pli­cated than the healing of the body.

Perpetual whining, griping, com­plaining and oth­er­wise choosing to be mis­er­able is the soul in des­perate need of healing. And, many times, the source of this sick­ness is an ungrateful heart. Grumbling about a sit­u­a­tion is pretty much the same as resent­ment about the sit­u­a­tion. Extended resent­ment can lead to a hard­ened heart. And con­stant ungrate­ful­ness, resent­ment and hard heart­ed­ness has a ten­dency to reveal an under­lying problem with the spirit.

Yeah, I know we all get down in the dumps about major set-backs, wretched cir­cum­stances and impos­sible sit­u­a­tions. Completely under­stand­able. It’s what we choose to do when that hap­pens that speaks to the health and well­ness of our hearts and souls. I’m sure we all know people who seem to make grousing and grum­bling about life a pro­fes­sional pur­suit. Never mind about the bless­ings and good things in life.…all they want to focus on is making the neg­a­tive trump any hap­pi­ness there might be. It’s like the Gratefulness and Happiness folders on their brain’s hard drives have been per­ma­nently deleted. All these neg­a­tive things result in shriv­eling up hearts and blinding eyes to everyday joys that are every­where. The down­ward spiral seems impos­sible to stop.

Here’s how it usu­ally goes:

Us: God, I’m in such a bind. Puleeeezzzeee let (insert wish list) happen/not happen and get me out of this jam. I’m so depressed and in such a funk about it all. Please make this mir­acle happen.

God: Nope, I’m not going to answer that prayer at this time. Not gonna happen. Now, snap out of it and let’s see what you can accom­plish with what you’ve been given.

Spiritual healing is des­per­ately needed in these sit­u­a­tions, whether its our own or someone else’s life. I’m sure ungrate­ful­ness and resent­ful­ness sadden God’s heart. It’s almost like thumbing our noses at the bless­ings He has given in our lives.

A cheerful heart allows us to view each day as a cel­e­bra­tion. It’s not just putting on the rose-colored glasses and triv­i­al­izing the trials; it’s more of an atti­tude adjust­ment that, in spite of what­ever hap­pens, we have the choice to respond by still appre­ci­ating the good things while working through the bad.

And BTW, a cheerful heart has these benefits:

1. It makes us more enjoy­able to be around! Smiles and laughter are much better com­pany than frowns and whining.
2. Life begins to look dif­fer­ently. We begin to see bless­ings in small, everyday things instead of focusing on the negative.
3. Our atti­tude improves and we create a can-do men­tality instead of a woe-is-me atti­tude. A can-do atti­tude is more cre­ative and pro­duc­tive than a sour-puss.
4. There is less stress in the home, which affects everyone!
5. We honor our Creator by thanking Him for what we’ve been given. Even when it may not be what we want at the time.

A cheerful heart is med­i­cine that brings on the best kind of healing.

Linking up with Quo­tog­raphy

 

 

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