Rx for ♥♥♥

Proverbs 17:22 “A merry heart does good like medicine.” That must be a statement that threatens the kingdom of darkness, because one of the weapons it uses most is un-merriness. Whatever the opposite of “merry” is, that’s what sometimes describes me and most others around me.

No one is immune to hardships, trials, and adversity. I used to teach a lesson on life being like a track & field meet. There are so many similarities. Sometime I’ll go into detail, but today I want to focus on the races that involve “hurdles.”

Now personally I hate to watch hurdles. I almost have to close my eyes, as I am sure that a runner is going to catch a toe on a hurdle and go crashing down, nose first, to the horrible cinders or asphalt. I cringe at the mere thought. And, just as soon as a runner manages to clear one hurdle, there is another hurdle up there waiting, and another and another and another.

Nevertheless, I find that is a description of ordinary life on planet Earth. Each of us face a hurdle of one kind or another; and, if we manage to sail over it without too badly injuring a nose, elbow, knee, or heart, there will be another hurdle coming up in a while. And so it goes. I tend to blame those hurdles on externals—if I were older (or younger), if I had more money, if I were better looking, if I had been treated differently when I was young, if my life was more like “X’s,” if—if—if.

Maybe some of those “ifs” are even true. Yet, wishing (or grumbling) doesn’t change reality, and I can guarantee that even “X” has hurdles. I loudly proclaim: “I am not in control of these hurdles. I did not choose them; I did not invite them; I do not want them.” Still, I’m not in control. However, I do control the way I respond.

It is easy for me to re-spond with dis-pondency; you know, with sadness, despair, discouragement. When that happens, there is no merry heart to be found. (See first line above). Then, the kingdom of darkness can literally make me sick and I have no medicine against it.

If I can learn to keep my eyes on Jesus (like Peter did NOT do when he got out of the boat to walk on water), my faith can hold; and my anchor in the one who holds both the waves and tomorrow will allow me to have a merry heart in the midst of the turbulence. Furthermore, if I have a merry heart, it does me good like medicine.

♫♪ “The anchor holds
Though the ship is battered
The anchor holds
Though the sails are torn
I have fallen on my knees
As I faced the raging seas
The anchor holds
In spite of the storm.” ♫♪
Words and music by Lawrence Chewning

I love a merry heart; I hate hurdles (of both kinds).