Did you ever notice how much more energy you have when your heart is joyful?
There’s a story I heard over the holiday that still sticks in my mind which is a great illustration of the benefits of a joyful heart.
A group of children were tidying up after class. The teacher told them she had ice cream for them at the end. Eyes lit up and smiles ensued at the mention of a sweet treat. They scrambled excitedly putting things away in anticipation of ice cream. The teacher noticed one little boy carrying five chairs. ‘Wow,’ she said. ‘How is that that you can carry FIVE chairs?’ ‘Because there’s ice cream at the end,’ he replied without missing a beat.
The teacher was inspired and pointed out to all the children the simple fact that a joyful heart has more energy, more strength and can do so much more than originally thought possible. It’s as though God imparts supernatural strength to us. We’ve all heard ‘when you are weak then I am strong,’ Maybe this is a good demonstration of how a cheerful buoyant heart can handle more, do more, and help find strength inside we didn’t know we had.
That’s why gratitude lists are so important. What we focus on grows. What we spend our mental energy on makes a difference. I translate that into ‘good begets good.’ It primes the pump.
So why not count our blessings and watch them match the skip in our step?
Because who knows what kind of surprise there might be at the end.
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