The Healing Powers of Joy

A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength. – Proverbs 17:22

A tzaddik once visited an elderly woman who was gravely ill and expected to die. Everyone was sitting around mourning the passing of this godly lady. There were tears, sorrow, serious faces and whispered words. When the tzaddik arrived, he smiled at the family and asked them about their matriarch. He asked questions about her life, about the contributions she had made. As they spoke, the woman’s family began to be heartened and to speak louder. Soon the tzaddik was asking about the family vacations and good memories. As the family became more and more comfortable, they began to recall humorous incidents on their own.

Where once there was mourning and darkness, there was now rejoicing, laughter and celebration over a great life lived well. Lo and behold, the woman opened her eyes and began speaking. Within an hour, she asked where her supper was. There were many tears of joy and loving embraces as her loved ones took the opportunity to tell her one more time how much they loved her and appreciated her contributions to their lives.

Tell me – if you were lying in a sick bed dying and could hear what was going on, would you be tempted to stay here on earth if all you heard was mourning and weeping? Let me ask you something else – if you are suffering; if you are in pain; how does making everyone around you suffer help? Does it relieve your pain to wallow in self-pity? Do you find healing in making your loved ones miserable?

Take the Master as your example. He suffered in all ways as we, yet without sin. He went to the cross and was tortured yet did not open his mouth in protest. His response was to forgive his torturers and to provide care for his mother.

If you will graciously accept whatever God has determined for you, perhaps you will find a degree of comfort and healing. There are very few drugs that are as effective as a good joke. I have watched people undergo terrible traumas. I have watched those who took their injuries well, with a sense of humor and I have watched those who did not. Inevitably those who disciplined themselves to be thankful for whatever God sent their way suffered less, healed more quickly or at the very least died well with the respect of those who watched over them.

Take pain, sickness and suffering well, with a cheerful attitude and a serving spirit; or, take pain, sickness and suffering badly, with a rotten attitude and a self-centered narcissistic attitude. Either way, you have to deal with it. Which way will be more Christ-like? Pain with joy – pain with bitterness; you choose.