A young man walked cheerfully from the hospital room of his ill mother, his hopes higher and his step lighter than when he had come. He marveled that , despite her illness, his mother retained the ability to lift the spirits of others.
Even in her troubled condition, this good woman was able to maintain “a glad heart and a cheerful countenance.”1 She had learned the important lesson that in the face of setbacks and the difficult experiences of life, we can maintain a feeling of peace and joy. She believed the ancient proverb that “a merry heart doeth good like a medicine.”²
At times, it would be easy and perhaps understandable for us to give in to pessimism and a bleak outlook on life. In reality, however, physical comfort might be taken from us, or worldly possessions may be lost, but no one can rob us of our good cheer. Personal happiness is not stolen; it is given away, surrendered to situations which seem to demand that we yield our contentment and stop being happy. How valuable the knowledge that even in the midst of grieving and significant suffering, we can keep our good spirits.
Nothing brings a sense of well-being like the knowledge that regardless of the challenges of mortality, we are loved by a God whose confidence in us never ceases. Cheer and gladness are hard to dislodge from the heart of a person who knows that he or she is truly a child of God.
As we consider our circumstances, whatever they may be, may we not lose sight of all that is truly meaningful in our lives and of the kind deeds which we can do for others. Even in hard times, “a merry heart” will serve as a soothing tonic, doing great good for all who taste of its hope and joy.
Program #3933
1 D&C 59:15
2Proverbs 17:22