Good Medicine

Bible Reading: Proverbs 15:13-17

“Guess what happened at Grandma and Grandpa’s,” Karmyn said, giggling. She and her brother, Felix, had just gotten home after spending the weekend with their grandparents. “Grandma had orange juice in a plastic pitcher, and when she picked it up—”

Karmyn could no longer talk because she was laughing too hard, so Felix finished the story. “The handle of the pitcher broke off!”

“Oh, no!” said Mom. “It must have made a huge mess.”

“It did,” Karmyn said. “Juice splashed all over the cupboards and onto the floor. And there was juice all over Grandma!”

“You should have seen the look on her face,” said Felix. “She kept holding the handle and staring at it. But then she started to laugh, and we laughed too. We all laughed so hard that Grandpa came from the living room to see what was going on.”

“I thought they’d be upset about the big mess, but they weren’t,” Karmyn said. “Grandpa got a big grin on his face and said, ‘Well, Arlene, I know you didn’t like that pitcher, but you didn’t have to go this far to get rid of it, did you?’ We all laughed until our stomachs hurt.”

Dad chuckled. “That’s how your grandparents are,” he said. “They can usually take an unfortunate situation and find some humor in it. Grandpa loves to quote the verse from Proverbs that says, ‘A merry heart does good, like medicine.’”

Karmyn nodded thoughtfully. “Cleaning up all that sticky juice didn’t seem so bad while we were laughing.”

Mom nodded. “Sometimes it’s easy to get upset when something like that happens. But you know what? Instead of getting frustrated when things don’t go our way, we can laugh. It helps us remember that God is good and that He’s saved us and always takes care of us, even when things don’t go as planned.”

“I’m going to try to laugh more like Grandma and Grandpa,” said Felix.

“Good,” said Mom. “You can start right now because I—well, I have something to tell you. Your favorite T-shirt somehow got in with the wrong batch of laundry today. It turned pink!”

Felix looked startled. Then he joined in as the rest of his family burst into laughter.

– Linda J. Opp

How About You?

Do you get upset when unexpected things happen to you? Try to find some humor in the situation. You’ll enjoy life more, and it’s good for your health too! Of course, there are times when more serious things happen that you shouldn’t laugh about, but even then remember that God cares for you and is always with you. So laugh whenever you can and enjoy the life He’s given you!

Today’s Key Verse:
Proverbs 17:22 A merry heart does good, like medicine. (NKJV)

Today’s Key Thought:

Learn to laugh