Good Medicine

The right medicine can do you a lot of good, and some really good medicine is free. There's a catch, though . . . you have to look for it. 

Proverbs 17:22 (NIV) says, "A cheerful heart is good medicine." You could take that a couple of ways:  (1) Instead of floating through your day with negative thoughts, make it a point to think positive, or (2) be on the lookout for humorous events and conversations around you.

A cheerful heart is a very individualized medicine. I learned to look for it daily while undergoing chemo, surgery, and radiation for breast cancer in 2007. I found this medicine so enjoyable that I kept on taking it.

People are always happy to get free medicine samples from their doctor. Here are some samples of my own:

    (1) I shared this one with a friend just the other day. I was once taking sermon notes when I heard the pastor say, "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord---even if it's bad breath!" He was quoting the very last verse in the book of Psalms, but every time I remember his tagline I have to smile.

    (2) In a thrift store one day I was musing over some colorful floral-motif plates. Without thinking I said aloud, "I wonder if my husband would eat off these?" A lady nearby said, "It probably depends on what you put on 'em!"

    (3) A friend shared this one: She overheard her grandson call a playmate "Stupid!" She called him in and said, "You can't call somebody stupid. It's not nice." He said, "I'm sorry, Memaw," and went back outside to play. He surprised her by rushing back in a little while later asking, "But what if they really are?"

You don't always need a full-strength, laugh-out-loud belly buster. Good medicine works in smaller doses, too. Just follow these instructions: To be taken multiple times daily, with or without food.