Good Medicine

by Brandy Webb

Have you ever had one of those weeks that you are just plain grumpy? Well, if you haven’t, I applaud you. I can’t stand it when I’m in what my kids call, “the mood,” and I call “frumpy” (feeling grumpy). I just want to start over on those days or go back to bed because it seems that I can’t get anything right.

Well, the truth is, I need some medicine to help me. Not the kind you get a prescription for, but what the Bible calls good medicine, “a cheerful heart” (Prov 17:22). Even if I have to look hard for something to smile about, I need to do it. I need to show my children that my being in the “frumpy mood” doesn’t mean I have to stay there. It is possible to snap myself out of it, if I am willing. I need to give them an example of not letting your mood ruin your day.

There are enough negative and moody people in this world. I choose not to be one of them. I don’t want to go around with a scowl on my face. No, I want “a happy heart” which makes “the face cheerful” (Prov 15:13). I want to smile more and scowl less. I want to speak more positive words that bring healing and less destructive words, including when I’m talking to myself. See, “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matt 12:34). Therefore, if we are always negative then we will only have negative things to say, but on the flip side, if we strive to be positive we will speak positive words (Luke 6:45). We must guard our hearts because “everything [we] do flows from it” (Prov 4:23), and what comes out of our mouths comes from our hearts (Matt 15:18a). We will have to answer for everything we say (Matt 12:36).

I really don’t want a negative heart. I don’t want to speak negative things, and I definitely don’t want to defile myself by what proceeds out of my mouth (Matt 15:18b). I must make sure, daily, I take a dose of cheerful medicine. One way to do this is to not dwell on worries. Like, my son told me the other day, “What scares me the most is thinking about things that scare me.” So, he likes to actually think of things that make him happy, instead. He is really doing what Paul tells us to do in Philippians 4:8. Oh, how much I can learn from a child.

The cheerfulness “medication” also requires us to “rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for” us (1 Thess 5:16-18). The great thing about this “medication” is that it has good side effects. In fact, you will find yourself smiling more, laughing often, bringing joy into your dwelling place, being a light to others, and speaking words that bring forth life and healing. Seriously, who doesn’t want to take this type of medicine?

So, today if you are feeling a little “frumpy,” force yourself to smile, and then start singing “I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy, down in my heart…”