Tuesday, January 09, 2007

December 09


Good Medicine


A cheerful heart is good medicine….


Proverbs 17:22 (NLT)



I sat in my dad’s new room and enjoyed the soft light streaming through the big windows. Outside, rolling, grassy hills and tall, whispering firs offered a quiet comfort—a beautiful setting for this modern assisted living facility.

Back inside my 90-year old papa hunched over the table fingering his morning assortment of pills and tablets—powerful medicine to counter the effects of so many physical issues.

“Things are going to be okay,” he said as he reached for the water glass. His spirit was as refreshing as the day.

Later, I walked the long, carpeted hallways and met him at his small table in the facility’s downstairs dining room. He had been here nearly two hours and was finally finishing his food. In spite of the struggle to move and swallow, he simply smiled and offered, “The food here is good.”

As I reflect on Dad’s comments, I am just a bit amazed. You see, I can never remember my dad complaining or whining about any of the hardships he's faced. And I have to say, he’s experienced some pretty hard knocks in life. His mother died when he was a boy and I’m sure he felt more or less abandoned as he crossed an ocean to live with distant American relatives. And there he was eeking his way through the Great Depression as the extra mouth to feed. Then, as he grew into full boyhood, his good friend drowned right before his eyes. Later, cancer took his brother at an awfully early age.

Now he deals with Parkinson’s and nearly half a dozen other ailments. It’s not easy, it can’t be, but he doesn’t complain.

It occurs to me, sometimes I am touched by a person’s thoughtful words; usually, I’m impressed by someone’s attentive actions; but what really gets my attention, and perhaps yours too, is a great attitude. A great attitude brightens up any life.

This weekend my life was brightened. This weekend my dad taught me a lesson as I saw again the best medicine of all—a cheerful heart.

Father, let others see this in me: Christ, the hope of glory. Amen.