Merry    heart

“Don’t ever put a frown on your face.” These were words from my 98-year old cousin Sylvia.

On my way home from my sisters visit earlier this month I stopped by to see cousin Sylvia at Lee House in Eldon.

We chatted for a few minutes and in the course of the conversation Sylvia shared these words of wisdom with me.

I thought it was pretty significant that in her many years of living this is one thing she had really found important and wanted me to remember too.

And in thinking it over, I realize what good advice it actually is because it is talking about our inner attitude. How we feel inside is reflected on our face whether we like it or not.

As Proverbs 15:13 TGB says, “A glad heart makes a cheerful countenance…”

As I enter the new year of 2012, I’m going to try to remember Sylvia’s words and put them into action using the advice of James 1:22 KJV, “... be ye doers of the word and not hearers only…”

And besides I have read that 35 to 50 per cent of all ill are sick because they are basically unhappy. So I guess the question is “Are you happy enough to live long?”

Medical research confirms that positive chemicals take place in our brain when we laugh or smile producing endorphins which are the body’s pain killers and help the entire muscular system to relax.

I like what my friend Jerry Long gave me several months ago. It is a bookmark that says, “How can we possibly forget to laugh, when it feels so good and cures so much?”

That philosophy along with “Don’t ever put a frown on your face” ought to be a sure-fire way to start the new year off.

And as I understand it, God wants us to enjoy life. He created laughter.

“Being cheerful keeps you healthy. It is a slow death to be gloomy all the time.” (Proverbs 17:22 GNT)

Love in Jesus,

God’s laughing servant,
Liz Ray

Written December 22, 2011