Cheerful Heart

Proverbs 17:22 “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.”

Otto James Frederick Meyer lived a life nearly absent sickness. His second youngest son, Delmer, recalls my grandfather’s first illness as the stroke he suffered at the age of seventy-one (71). Through Otto’s sixty-fifth birthday, Delmer says, “I nearly had to run to keep up with his walk”.

Otto’s smile was nearly permanent! However, when his two or three year old grandson, yours truly, locked him in the barn’s feed room with no alternate exit; Otto’s smile was absent. His cheerful voice quickly dissipated; as I was unable unhook that which I had hooked on the barn door. Otto, along with his wife Ida, raised six children on this farm; I was the first to lock him in the barn. His beaming smile returned as my father opened the door to the outdoors, releasing him from the barn’s bondage.

Otto frequently whistled while he worked. He whistled or sang on the tractor, tapping his toe on the accelerator to the beat of his favorite church hymns. Delmer says the tractor engine’s fluctuating response to Otto’s toe tapping could be heard a half mile away as he drove along the North Fork of the Solomon River.

How true it is when we feel good, we feel good. I frequently invite audiences on cerebral explorations; including the inquisition, “Is it possible to smile and attain negative emotions?” Smiling and anger are polar opposite. Smiling opens our neuron receptors to the chemicals of joy, blocking the anger chemicals. This produces a chain reaction throughout our body; relaxed muscles are normally healthy muscles.

Our crushed spirit generates negative chain chemical reactions resulting in ill effects on our bodies. Seldom do pessimists escape illness.

These are very simplified explanations.

What causes our hearts to be cheerful? The presence of the Holy Spirit does. Focusing on the desires of Christ creates immense cheer. The cheerful feeling is the overall prevailing feeling; life’s challenges remain. You may have a child or grandchild lock you in a room! Christ sweat blood as He pondered the crucifixion. However, Christ kept his eyes on the Father's Will and love for us!

Otto James Frederick Meyer suffered paralysis from the stroke in excess of four (4) years. Pictures reveal his smiling, cheerful heart remained. The last few weeks of 1975, his smile lessened. As I viewed Otto James Frederick Meyer in the casket following his death at approximately 2:03 am on January 3, 1976 his smile beamed ear to ear. His beaming smile returned as our Heavenly Father opened the door to heaven, releasing him from life’s bondage. A cheerful heart is good medicine!

Make it a Great Day in Christ!
Rick
Rick E. Meyer