A joyful heart is good medicine

When I was growing up, April 1st (April Fool's Day) brought the opportunity for fun pranks on unsuspecting family members. Even our mom got into the scheming and performance of these fun pranks.I will not reveal any specific details of these pranks to keep all incriminating evidence from worldwide print, just in case one of my siblings may be reading this article.As I reminisced about those fun days of my childhood, I found myself scheming again on April 1st. What could I do to my siblings which would be a "got ya" moment? It didn't take long to come up with a plan.Just a few weeks ago, my siblings and I began a conversation about hummingbirds. We all enjoy the tiny birds and set out at least one, if not multiple, feeders to draw these birds into our vicinity for the sheer pleasure of watching God's amazing creation.With one sibling living in a southern state, it was a quick reminder to get that feeder out NOW since the birds were migrating northward. This sibling will be named sibling one with the next sibling mentioned as sibling two in the rest of this writing. Sibling one kept us informed of any developments of sightings or feeder replenishments. However, nothing was happening on the southern front and still hasn't as of this writing.Sibling two lives farther north. This sibling put out the hummingbird’s feeders a little sooner than necessary but wanted to welcome the little birds into the backyard of the property. Sibling two even has a camera pointed in the direction of the feeders to capture any signs of their arrival on video.Then there's me, who lives in Michigan, the one farthest north. Of course, I'm always the last one to see and welcome the hummingbirds each year.With this ongoing conversation with my siblings about hummingbirds, I couldn't resist the opportunity to pull another April Fool's prank. I sent the following message titled "first sighting" to the others."The thunderstorms which rolled through last night must have brought the hummingbird to Ypsi. We have a sighting. More storms to come. We've had plenty of rain though as the ground is soaked. Chat later, Me."In return I received:"What?????? Michigan?????? Well, I'll be a dirty bird!!!! Lol no sightings here yet."I did quickly send out a second message before receiving anything in return, but the messages must have been sent at the same time. I confessed of my prank and reminded my siblings of the day. We all had a good laugh. Then we reminisced of our childhood days and the fun we had. Oh, how I love my siblings! We share many fond memories of growing up across the road from our grandparents who were dairy farmers.I know this was a silly little story, but in light of the very difficult days in which we live, it's good to remembers days gone by and add a little laughter to the current days. Proverbs 15:15 says, "All the days of the afflicted are bad, but a cheerful heart has a continual feast."Proverbs 17:22 states, "A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones."This tells me that a smile, laughter, cheerfulness and joyfulness are all good medicine for my total well-being. Have you had a dose of this medicine lately?Gail loves the Lord most of all. She delights in her calling to be a wife to Ed Malick and a mother to seven children ages 23 to 40 and grandmother of sixteen. Ed is sixth generation on the homestead family farm in Ypsilanti Township, Michigan.