“A merry heart doeth good like a medicine” (Proverbs 17:22).

Lucy was an old grump. She didn’t like the nursing home, the nurses, the staff, or the lunch room crew. She didn’t like her room. She didn’t like her roommate. She didn’t like her bed. She didn’t like her family who helped her to make the decision to get extra care that they could not provide. She didn’t like anything or anyone. One day the group from First Baptist Church came to Lucy’s nursing home. The aide didn’t even ask Lucy if she wanted to come down to the service. The aide simply pushed Lucy in her wheelchair down to the meeting room. “This will be good for you. I’ll be back to pick you up when it’s over. You be nice to the people,” the aide said to Lucy. Lucy didn’t want to be there. But then there was a little girl named Alicia. Lucy couldn’t get her eyes off Alicia’s pigtails. Blonde pigtails! With great enthusiasm little Alicia was helping to pass out the chorus books. Just as she got to grumpy Lucy, Alicia tripped on the chair. Almost like it was in slow motion, the little girl with flying pigtails landed in Lucy’s lap. “Hi! My name is Alicia. Who are you?” the little girl asked. Lucy tried to be grumpy, but she couldn’t be. Alicia had broken through and made her laugh. That little girl and the church group came back twice a month. Lucy would look for little Alicia who made her laugh. It started to bring a change in the grumpy Lucy’s life. “It’s been like good medicine,” the nurse’s aide said to the supervisor. “I think the Bible says that somewhere,” the supervisor responded. How about you? You’re not growing old and grumpy, are you?

For today: How will the Lord bring a good medicine to you today? It may be quite unexpected, so be watching!