A cheerful disposition is good for your health;

gloom and doom leave you bone-tired.

Proverbs 17:22

Everyday at work, I greet parents as they drop off their children.  I ask how are you doing and invariably I get the same responses, not bad for a Monday, well, it’s Wednesday, I’d be better if it were Friday, or just ok.  I listen as people speak gloom and doom over their days and their lives.  I commented to one woman that she must have really great weekends to dread Mondays and Tuesdays and all the other days and she said, no not really but at least she wasn’t at work.  And I thought how sad.

I listen to people a lot.  Standing in line at the grocery store, in the doctor’s office waiting room, my co-workers and the parents I encounter daily as they drop off their kids.  I hear gloom and doom and marvel at the things I hear them say – well, its allergy season, I guess I’ll be sick for months, I got a raise but I bet taxes will eat it up, my mom died of cancer, I suspect I will too, my kids are teens now, I am sure they will do drugs and get in trouble and on and on.

They look tired, they sound tired and this verse tells us why.  They have spoken words over their lives that have left them bone-tired.  Words that would better left unspoken.

When I was attending Bible school in Tulsa, Oklahoma the atmosphere was very different.  People I encountered were aware of the power of the words they spoke and when asked how they were doing, the answer was “blessed” or “better than I deserve!” Just saying those words lifted people’s countenance.

What kind of words are you speaking over your life?  Words that create a cheerful disposition or words that create bone-tiredness.  It’s not easy to speak cheerful words all the time but it is a habit that can be developed.

Stop and listen to yourself, to others and see if there is room in your conversation for cheerful words that are good for your health.

Thank you Father that my joy is not dependent upon circumstances or on how I feel.  I choose be cheerful, I choose to watch my words, help me to be a minister of words that heal and dispel gloom and doom, and where I have spoken ill-thought out words over myself or someone else would you bring them to nought?  I pray in Jesus’ name, amen.

I would love to hear from you. Please let me know if I can be praying for you as well.