"A merry heart does good like a medicine."

Now there's a terrific verse for another annoying snowy, bad-economic-times kind of day like this one.

I've heard that 80 percent of people in doctors' offices are there due to stress-related symptoms. Hmmm... perhaps my goal should be to stay calm and happy with God and my life. I'm thinking trust and relaxation just may be like general health booster shots.

I'm a big believer that our pathetic thoughts and worries can make us sick and leave us vulnerable to diseases. You might disagree. But in my nearly 50 years I've been a 'watcher' ... a 'ponderer of things in my heart' and I've seen that the worriers and complainers and 'poor me types' are generally those who go downhill the fastest, with hardly a push from anyone or anything else. It's like they whisk themselves down the hill into years of disease.

Again, you might not agree. (And too, I'm not saying all sick people are worriers.) But I'm thinking that as I near 50, more than ever, I need not only to change my diet in revolutionary ways, I also must watch--more closely than ever--the way I respond to hard times (small, daily ones or huge ones). Rather than allowing that overwhelmed feeling to spin me to dizziness, I need to choose booster shots of peace and trust and knowing that my times are in God's hands. For Life within those hands should be the healthiest, least fearful and calmest way to go.


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"As a man thinks in his heart so is he..."

" My son, attend to my words; incline your ear unto my sayings.
Let them not depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart.
For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.
Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life." (From Proverbs 4)

"The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?" Psalm 27:1