Proverbs 17:22

A cheerful heart brings good healing,
but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

Have you been around those people who make you happy just because you’re around them? You know what I mean, the people who can cheer you up without trying to cheer you up. The people who bring the life out of you. The people who, just by talking, are able to lift your spirits? I know some people like that. I’ve always wanted to be someone like that. To be honest, I don’t know how they do it, or how they get there.

Life is hard, and it can be hard not to have a defeatist mentality. It can be hard, when you suffered blow after blow, to get up with a smile on your face. It can be hard, when you’ve tried with all your might and still you come up short. And when this happens a couple of times, the joy in your life can easily start to fade.

But, these people who lift our spirits, they go through stuff too. It’s not like they live in a vacuum and don’t have to experience struggle. They most certainly do. In fact, I would say that some of them have experience a great deal of heartache and pain.

So, it’s obviously not the struggle that keeps them down, because they’re not down. Sure, maybe they are down when no one is around. But, don’t you think you’d be able to tell if they were just putting on a show? Don’t you think you’d be able to see through the charade? I do.

On the flip-side, we’ve all been around those people that suck the life out of us. Literally. You can feel your hair turning gray when you’re with them. You hear the arthritis growing in your joints. Your muscles start to atrophy. Imagine how it must feel to be them? Imagine the depth of despair they must live with every day.

Let’s pause for just a minute and think about what is being brought out of these two kinds of hearts. A cheerful heart brings healing. A crushed spirit dries up the bones. You’ve seen it in people fighting illnesses. Someone comes in and encourages them, and their condition improves. Others come in and discourages them, and their condition worsens. The kind of person you are could actually bring healing to someone whose spirit has been crushed. Your cheerful heart could be the medicine the other person needs to conquer an illness or a struggle of some kind.

“A cheerful heart brings good healing.” What comes as a result of your heart? Are you bringing healing or sucking life?