A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

Proverbs 17:22

My word for Lent is hope. Cheerfulness is both a strategy and an end result for that.

How we react when trouble comes is the greatest witness to those around us. Maintaining a genuinely cheerful heart shows that we truly believe what we profess. Filling our minds with gratitude and praise for everything God has done for us – from dying on the Cross to creating trees – opens our hearts to feel the graces of joy and peace, no matter what else is happening.

One of my favorite quotes is from the late, great comedian Gilda Radner, written as she was dying from cancer:

“There will always be downslides and uncertainty. The goal is to live a full, productive life even with all this ambiguity. No matter what happens, I can control whether I am going to live a day in fear and depression and panic, or whether I am going to attack the day and make it as good a day, as wonderful a day, as I can.”