A Merry Heart

 

“All the days of the afflicted are evil: but he that is of a merry (cheerful) heart hath a continual feast.” Proverbs 15:15

One night I was paging through the book of Proverbs before I went to bed. Proverbs 15:15 was one of the verses that I read.

I didn't think much about it at the time, apart from remembering a story I once read about it. (The story was about a boy who had learned to make the most of every situation).

The next morning Hannah woke up at 3:00 a.m. and wouldn't settle back to sleep.

 She is a bit sick at the moment with a cough and a cold, so I thought that was the only problem. I tried to sleep with her in the spare room, but she wouldn't lay down even though she was still sleepy.

So our day started at 3:00 a.m.! (Talk about being in for a long day!) Hannah was tired and grumpy, not to mention myself! At 5:00 I tried putting her down in her own cot again. She appeared to be going back to sleep! I wrote a note for Johan asking him not to wake me up when he got up, and I went back to bed. However, Hannah was not going to go back to sleep, and I heard her making noise after a few minutes! I had to accept the fact that I wasn't going to get anymore sleep that morning!

I felt so tired, and I dreaded the very long, hard day ahead. But thankfully this Proverb that I had read the night before came to my mind.

“All the days of the afflicted are evil: but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast.”

I realized that no matter what my circumstances were, I could make the most of them. Just because things were going bad didn't mean that I had to have a miserable day! I could choose to have a merry heart, which meant I could still have a nice day.

It wasn't an easy day! Hannah was so tired at morning tea time that she pretty much fell asleep in her high chair. I quickly put her to bed and got the kitchen cleaned up so I could go and have a sleep too. But 15 minutes later, I heard her singing in bed, her tiredness completely forgotten! She finally did have a sleep in the afternoon, and I was able to get a small sleep then. But I woke up with a sore ear! I realized that's what Hannah's problem was.

In spite of the bad day, I was able to make the most of it, because of the verse I read, and because I chose to have a merry heart. If I hadn't, I would have had a very miserable day! I had to remember this verse again this morning when Hannah woke up at five (a little bit better than three!), and I woke up with a sore ear again!

“All the days of the afflicted are evil: but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast.”

Do you have a merry/cheerful heart when your day is hard? It is possible! You don't have to be a grump!