Prescription for a Better Life

Last week I wrote about the Power of a Smile. Did you know that smiling can change your life?

Frank Bettger, a major league ball player who turned to sales management after an injury, became famous for his inspirational speeches. He would ask people to promise to smile for 30 days.

Courtesy of Google.com

He said, "I have asked thousands of men and women in audiences all over the country for a pledge to smile, just for 30 days, their happiest smile at every living creature they see. Easily 75 percent of the people in each audience willingly raised theirs hands."

What was the result?

A letter from a man in Knoxville, Tennessee, is typical of several letters he received:

"My wife and I had just agreed to separate. Of course, I thought she was entirely at fault. Within a few days after I began to put the idea into action, happiness was restored in my home.

"I then came to realize that I had been losing out in business because of a sullen, losing attitude. At the end of the day, I would go home and take it out on my wife and children. It was all my fault, not my wife's at all.

"I am a totally different man from what I was a year ago. I'm happier because I've made others happy too. Now, everybody greets me with a smile. In addition, my business has shown surprising improvement."

This man was so excited about the results he got from smiling that he kept writing to Bettger about it for years.

Are there things in your life that aren't going as well as you would like? Perhaps you need to smile more too.

Centuries ago, the wise writer of the Book of Proverbs pointed out that

Courtesy of Pinterest .com

You may not feel like smiling, but if you do it anyway, your mood will catch up with that act of your will, and you will soon feel better. You can change your feelings by your actions.

Try it! It may be just the prescription you need to make your life better. I'd love to hear about your results.

I invite you to sign up in the column to the right to follow my blog and receive notification by email whenever I post a new message.

The Power of a Smile

A little boy wanted to meet God. He knew it was a long trip to where God lived, so he packed his suitcase with Twinkies and a six-pack of root beer and started on his journey.

When he had gone about three blocks, he met an old man sitting in the park staring at the pigeons. The boy sat down next to him and opened his suitcase. He was about to take a drink from his can of root beer when he noticed that the old man looked hungry, so he offered him a Twinkie.

Gratefully, the man accepted it and smiled at the boy. His smile was so pleasant that the boy wanted to see it again, so he gave him a root beer.

Courtesy Google.com

Again the man smiled at him. The boy was delighted. They sat there all afternoon eating and smiling but never said a word.

As it grew dark, the boy realized how tired he was and got up to leave. Before he took more than a few steps, he turned around, ran back, and gave the old man a hug. The old man gave him his biggest smile ever.

When the boy opened the door to his own house a short time later, his mother, seeing the look of joy on his face, asked, "What did you do today that made you so happy?"

"I had lunch with God," he said. "And you know what? He's got the most beautiful smile I've ever seen."

Meanwhile, the old man, also radiant with joy, returned to his home. His son was stunned by the look of peace on his face and asked, "Dad, what did you do today that made you so happy?"

He replied, "I ate Twinkies in the park with God." Then he added, "You know, he's much younger than I expected."

This story reminds me of a poem my grandmother, Florence L. Personeus, wrote years ago that I included in my book, Frontiers of Faith:

Just a Smile

It was only a smile and a wave of the hand,

As the giver hastened away,

But it cheered and brightened a heart that was sad

At the close of a weary day.

A smile often comes like a ray of sunlight

Sent from Heaven to us here below;

'Twill bring joy in return, to scatter bright smiles,

For we reap whatever we sow.

If we only knew how a little smile

Might cheer the heart of another,

How it strengthens them to struggle on,

We would smile just to help each other.

For those bright, cheery smiles that come and go

Flash sunshine on Life's thorny way,

And the good they can do not one of us knows,

So let's scatter smiles every day.

                                                           --Florence L. Personeus

                           

We often underestimate the power of a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, or the smallest act of caring, but they have the power to turn a life around. And when You do it for one of God's children, you are doing it for Him.

Who did you smile at today?

Are You a Thermometer or a Thermostat?

With the cold weather now upon us, I find myself consulting my thermometer and thermostat more frequently. Have you ever thought about these two instruments? They have related but quite different functions.

Both have to do with how hot or cold it is, but the similarity stops there. A thermometer merely reflects its surroundings. It does nothing to influence them. A thermostat, however, seeks to regulate rather than imitate, turning on the furnace or the air conditioner according to the need.

Thermostat
Courtesy Google.com

Thermometer
Courtesy Google.com

As a Christian, I want to be more like a thermostat than a thermometer. I don't want to simply report the conditions of the moment. I want to try to affect the future in a positive way.

For example, in dealing with finances in their families, thermometer types only report the conditions of the moment: "We can't tithe or support missions or you name it because the economy hasn't done very well this year. We didn't get a raise. We have too many bills."

What thermometer types don't do well is affect the future, except maybe negatively with self-fulfilling prophecies.

Thermostat-based talk says, "What ought the temperature be, and how can we make it happen?"

Thermostat types don't ignore the conditions. No, they first recognize what they face, but then they study the Word and pray and ask God to show them what He wants them to accomplish and how.

The Bible is full of wisdom. If we follow God's instructions and pray and work and trust Him, He will make a way where there seems to be no way.

In Acts 13:43, Paul and Barnabas urged the believers in Antioch to continue to rely on the grace of God. In times of difficulty, we too must not only report the conditions but respond to them with prayer and obedience to God's Word, trusting in His grace to see us through victoriously.

This year, I want to be a thermostat, don't you? I want to have a positive influence on the people and situations I in meet in 2016.

What do you need to do to become more like a thermostat?


If you enjoyed this post, I invite you complete the form in the column to the right to sign up for an email notification each time a write a new blog post. To learn more about me and my books, you can visit www.AnnaLeeConti.com.

Recipe for a Happy New Year

On this eve of the New Year, a brand new year stretches ahead of us like a clean canvass just waiting for us to touch the brush to the palette, choose the colors, and splash on the paint. We make New Year's resolutions with great expectations, but because of past failures, we hesitate fearfully on the threshold of this New Year.

Sir Winston Churchill, prime minister of Great Britain during World War II and a man of many talents, became an accomplished artist. When he set out to paint, he chose oils as his medium so that whatever he painted would last for the ages.

Sir Winston Churchill relaxed by painting.
Courtesy Google.com

He asked his wife, Clementine, to purchase the materials he would need. When everything was assembled, the next step was to begin.

A prolific writer, he later described his feelings of looking at the white canvas in front of him. Beads of paint glistened on his new palette, and the empty brush in his hand was poised irresolute in the air. "My hand seemed arrested by a silent veto."

He knew that the sky should be at the top of the page, and sky was a pale blue. To achieve that color, he mixed a tiny bit of blue with white and cautiously made a mark the size of a pea on that intimidating snow-white canvas.

"It was a challenge, a deliberate challenge, but so subdued, so halting...that it deserved no response," he wrote.

At that moment, he heard an automobile in the driveway and out stepped his neighbor, a gifted painter. Clementine had called her.

She strode to the canvas and asked, "What are you hesitating about? Let me have a brush--a big one."

She splashed it into turpentine, swished it vigorously into the blue and white, and sprawled the paint across the canvas in huge, almost savage strokes.

Churchill wrote, "The spell was broken." Delighted, he knew he had discovered his style. This was how he lived. This was how he would paint. He became a fearless and gaudy painter, for he fell in love with the brilliant colors and felt sorry for the dull browns.

Let's approach this New Year with that same kind of fearless exhilaration, knowing that each day is the day that the Lord has made, so we can rejoice and be glad in it (Psalm 118:24).

Here's a recipe I found for a happy new year:

Take 12 whole months. Clean them thoroughly of all bitterness, hate, and jealousy. Make them just as fresh and clean as possible.

Cut each month into 28, 30, or 31 different parts, but don't make up the whole batch at once. Prepare it one day at a time with these ingredients:

Into each day mix well one part of faith, one part of patience, one part of courage, and one part of work. 

Add to each day one part of hope, faithfulness, generosity, and kindness. 

Blend with one part prayer, one part meditation, and one good deed. 

Season the whole with a dash of good spirit, a sprinkle of fun, a pinch of play, and a cupful of good humor.

Pour all of this into a vessel of love. Cook thoroughly over radiant joy, garnish with a smile, and serve with quietness, unselfishness, and cheerfulness.

If you follow these instructions carefully, you're bound to have a happy new year!

May I recommend some encouraging, faith-building reading for the new year?
Frontiers of Faith, Till the Storm Passes By, A Star to Steer By. Click on the titles to learn more about these books and how to order them.

The Unused Gift

"Thanks be to God for for His indescribable Gift!" (2 Corinthians 9:15).

A pastor was visiting an elderly woman. When she asked him to get a box of letters for her from a chest, he noticed a lovely quilt hidden away in the drawer too.

"May I take it out and look at it?" When she nodded, he lifted it out and unfolded it. "Where did you find such an exquisite masterpiece?"

"My grandmother made it for me years ago as a wedding gift."

Puzzled, the pastor asked, "Why don't you have this on your bed?"

"Oh, it's too beautiful to use!"

What a shame that the precious gift of love had been hidden away in a drawer for 50 years--preserved, rather than used and enjoyed as it was intended!

During the Christmas season we preserve the memory of the birth of God's indescribable Gift. The Gift God gave to us that first Christmas is beyond the ability of any human language to describe. In fact, the Bible uses many names and titles to describe that Gift. These many names depict the many facets of the character, sacrifice, and supremacy of that great Gift.

The Prophet Isaiah said, 

Jesus, the name given to Mary and Joseph by the angels, means Savior, announcing that He came "to save His people from their sins" (Matthew 1:23).

These are just a tiny sampling of the names given in Scriptures for Jesus.

His birth as a tiny baby in Bethlehem was just the beginning of the Gift. He came to walk among us, to experience the human condition, and to die on the cross for our sins. He rose again that we too might share eternal life with Him. Today, He longs to give us peace and joy and counsel and comfort in the midst of life's storms.

Are we taking full advantage of all the facets of this First Christmas Gift?

If not, we are like the the elderly woman whose grandmother gave her the lovely quilt, which she laid away to preserve but never use and enjoy. How sad if all we do is celebrate Jesus' birth once a year but don't claim God's Gift in our lives every day!

What will you do today to appropriate God's indescribable Gift to your life?

Have a blessed Christmas!


If you enjoyed this post, I invite you to fill out the coupon to the right to receive an e-mail each time I write a new post.

To Put a Face on God

I once heard the story of a missionary to Egypt who was trying to teach the people about the Incarnation of Christ.

In spite of his best efforts, the people shook their heads. "We don't understand."

In desperation, the missionary asked an elderly believer how he could explain the reason for Jesus' coming. The man thought for a few moments then replied, "He came to put a face on God."

The elderly believer was right on. That simple explanation brought the light of understanding to the eyes of the people.

Through the millennia before Christ came, people wondered what God is like. Then God sent His only uniquely begotten Son. Jesus told His disciples, "He that has seen Me has seen the Father."

Now that Jesus has come and moved in love among us, no one ever again need ask that question.

Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means "God with us." Matthew 1:23 (NLT)

God saw our greatest need and sent His Son Jesus. I love this reminder on a Christmas card:

If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator.

If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent a scientist.

If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist.

If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer.

But our greatest need was to be cleansed from sin, so God sent us a Savior!

"Immanuel, God with us."

The Word did not become a Philosophy to be discussed, 

nor a Theory to be debated, 

nor a Concept to be pondered. 

But the Word became a Person to be followed, enjoyed, and loved.

Another unknown writer said:

Christ came as a tiny Baby that He might better understand our sufferings.

He was born into poverty lest we think Him a monarch.

He came not to dominate but to motivate; 

not to condemn but to forgive; 

not to oppress but to free our souls; 

not to compel but to teach us the truest meaning of unselfish love.

This Christmas season, I pray that you may truly experience "Immanuel, God with us."

To avoid missing out on my future posts, you can receive notification by e-mail each time I write a new post if you fill out the Subscribe coupon to the right. Don't worry. I will not fill your inbox with spam.

Christmas Version of 1 Corinthians 13

I collect paraphrases based on 1 Corinthians 13. Years ago, I found this Christmas version. I don't know who wrote it, but it reminds me to focus on the message of Christmas and not get caught up in the tinsel and commercialism.

Courtesy Google.com

If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows, strands of twinkle lights, and shiny balls but do not show love to my family, I am only a honking horn or clanging bell.

Courtesy Google .com

If I slave away in the kitchen baking dozens of Christmas cookies, preparing gourmet meals, and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime but do not show love to my family, I am just another cook; it means nothing.

If I work at the soup kitchen, carol in the nursing home, and give all that I have to charity but do not show love to my family, it profits me nothing.

If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and hand-crocheted snowflakes, attend a myriad of holiday parties, and sing in the church choir cantata but do not focus on Christ, I have missed the point of the season.

Courtesy Google.com

Love stops cooking to hug a child.

Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the husband.

Love is kind, even though I am harried and tired.

Love doesn't envy another's home that has coordinated Christmas china and table linens.

Love doesn't yell at the kids to get out of the way but is thankful they are there to be in the way.

Love doesn't give only to those who are able to give in return but rejoices in giving to those who can't.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails.

Video games will break, pearl necklaces will be lost, golf clubs will rust, but giving the gift of love will endure.

"The greatest of these is love."

What is your biggest challenge to demonstrating your love at Christmas?

To receive an e-mail notification of new posts on this blog, please fill out the form to the right.