A Prayer To Be Cheerful in All Circumstances

 With warmer and sunnier weather and a few more opportunities to get together with family and friends it’s a bit easier for some folks to feel cheerful these days.  I’ve seen pictures of family groups on beaches locally and heard the joy in voices as they say how good it is to be together again.  There’s an atmosphere that seems to be lightening around us and a cheerfulness that seems to be touching more and more folks. 

It is interesting how some people seem to always be upbeat and cheerful no matter what and then there are those that don’t seem able to crack a smile no matter how many good things happen around them.  Most of the rest of us operate somewhere in the middle.  We’re cheerful when things are going well and struggle to be that way when we are stressed and circumstances bring pressure into our lives. 

Scientists tell us that being cheerful seems to have positive benefits on our over-all health.  There are studies that suggest being cheerful and optimistic limits stress, reduces pain, supports our immune system, and even helps to protect our heart.  Is it any wonder that long before there were tests to prove it, the Bible already had this important information available?

A cheerful heart makes you healthy.  But a broken spirit dries you up.

Proverbs 17:22

Worry weighs us down; a cheerful word picks us up. 

Proverbs 12:25

Those who live with joy and cheerfulness seem to better fight off seasonal bugs like cold and flu.  Older people who reported feeling happy lived longer than those who were least happy.  This is pretty good motivation to be thankful for who we are and to be cheerful today. 

A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit.  All the days of the oppressed are wretched, but the cheerful heart has a continual feast.  Proverbs 15:13, 15

Heavenly Father, We want to live today with joy in our hearts and be cheerful no matter what challenges we face.  We don’t want to just paste a smile on our face but to truly know the settledness in our hearts that allows us to be at peace and cheerful.

Be cheerful. Keep things in good repair. Keep your spirits up. Think in harmony. Be agreeable. Do all that, and the God of love and peace will be with you for sure.   2 Corinthians 13:11

We want to stick with You today knowing that whatever seems broken in our world or our hearts, You are able to repair it.  We can trust You over the long haul to be with us, to support us, to encourage and direct us and to get us through.  Here we are all these many months of the pandemic later and though it’s been tough, You’ve brought us through to times where we can experience an uplift in our hearts and these changes in our circumstances.

We bring our hearts and minds to You right now and ask for Your blessing to be poured out on us so we can know fresh encouragement and optimism to face this day, knowing that You are with us.  We don’t want to be those who grumble and complain but to live so we gain a reputation of being agreeable and working in harmony with others.

We know that if we welcome Your peace and love into our lives and our circumstances that we will be more creative and we will solve problems better than when we operate in fear and worry, supposing the problems before us are bigger than Your ability to make a way through for us. 

Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Romans 12:11-12 MSG

We’re grateful that we don’t have to pretend that problems don’t exist.  Denial didn’t fix our problems before this pandemic and it won’t solve the challenges we face as we move through these last weeks of vaccinations and decreasing restrictions.  We simply want to be faithful to do our part to pray often, work hard, and trust You, God, in all circumstances, and to live with a cheerful heart each day.  When we do, we know that You will be faithful to Your promise to be with us. 

We receive Your comfort and encouragement as we face problems head-on rather than avoiding or denying them.  Thank you for caring for us. Amen