Do you find days when you feel miserable? Would you like to know how to free yourself from those feelings? Be friendly to everyone you meet. Friendly people are hardly ever miserable people.
Each person you cross paths with, give them the gift of a smile and “hello”. It may seem fake to smile at everyone when you don’t feel like it. But this is when the gift of a smile begins to clear out our miserable feelings by being friendly.
I’m not saying that there won’t be seasons in your life where misery pulls you down. I’m talking about your everyday walk of life.
I had a friend who witnessed a terrible crime in her home with the death of her husband. She was young and had children to raise. But she decided that day that she could allow grief to last the rest of her life, or she could choose to find ways to lift her misery. And how did she do it? She learned to make other people laugh. And God honored her efforts. She found the more she smiled, the more real it became, and her misery was lifted away.
You can lift your misery too by giving the gift of a smile. Give it a try. You might just find a bit of joy stirring in your heart.
Exodus 3:7 – The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering.”