A Happy Heart

Proverbs 15:13 says, "A happy heart makes the face cheerful..."
As I was reading my devotions this morning, I realized something. I have become a complainer. Ugh. You know, one of those people who walk around with a crease between their eyebrows and frown lines to match. Complainers wear us out. I know this because when I look in the mirror, I feel exhausted. After reading several verses about being cheerful, I realized that God understands our need to vent, but also wants us to find the joy even in our adversity. Let's talk about venting. It is good to be able to share our frustrations with a trusted friend or dear husband. But only God can meet all of our needs and be there every time we "need to vent." His word says to be cheerful, patient, and selfless. Complaining, tantrums, criticism, pity parties, etc. are not constructive behaviors. For some reason, my toes really hurt right now. Okay, so now for the "happy heart makes the face cheerful" part: I became frsustrated last week while waiting at a lawyer's office for some documents to sign. Let's just call it a "retro" office. Meaning its decor hasn't been changed in 3o years or so. The vinyl sofa wasn't so bad. The plastic flowers and gold carpet added to the...um...nostalgia. all of that is simply cosmetic, and was easily overlooked. However, the fact that they called their computer a "word processor" was alarming. Even Dan thought it looked ancient, and he might have actually been transported in time from the set of "Leave it to Beaver." Never mind that the person printing/copying the documents had trouble replacing the toner cartridge, and vocalized this for everyone within a block of the office. Thank goodness there was a two-year old issue of Reader's Digest on the end table. Dan and I read it together while trying to look as if we were not fazed by the situation. We couldn't look at eachother, though. Laughter would have erupted and we might have slipped off of the vinyl sofa onto the gold carpet. Well, there were dead leaves down there! Wouldn't you know they never did get the document ready that day. We had to go throught the process once again. This time, they had a new printer, which wasn't compatible with their antiquated "word processor/computer." So, the poor girl had to make do with a typewriter and some liquid paper. By the time we got out of there, we were thankful for the THREE year old issue of Reader's Digest waiting for us on the end table. We will enjoy laughing about that experience for a long time. I wonder what surprises await us when we return this week to sign yet another document. Maybe I should take an extra typewriter ribbon just to be on the safe side. Enjoy your day. Find the humor in it. I think God will be pleased.