A joyful heart is good medicine,
but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
Proverbs 17:22
There I sat, a couple of weeks ago, under an awning attached to a small church building outside the city of Catacamas in Honduras. Lunch time had arrived, and, in my mind, it could not have come soon enough. As I sat down my body felt sore and my muscles tired. Dana, a young teenage girl who had agreed to help our group by translating for us, sat across from me. She noticed I had slowly taken my time sitting down. She looks at me and says, “Are you ok?”. I nod at her that I am fine. Before I knew it here comes Wilson with that infectious smile and laugh taking the seat next to me saying, “Brother!” Wilson is both on staff at Family Life and a local pastor. I refer to him as the MacGyver of Honduras. I am convinced there is nothing Wilson cannot fix. When we, mostly me, messed something up on the job site, using his broken English Wilson would say, “Give to me the professional.” But on this day, God was using Wilson not to fix something on the job site but to restore the laughter (joy) in my heart.
For some reason, at this lunch, the conversation turned to Wilson’s story. I was thankful he was talkative because I needed some time to recover from the morning work. He began to share with me, through our translator Dana, that he was one of 18 children by his father. While he was growing up, he said his father never married any of the women he was with at the time. He described growing up in poverty and the mindset poverty places on someone. He described it as being in survival mode every day simply trying to find food to eat. As he reached his teenage years around 14, he left home for good. In his early twenties his mom and some of his siblings left Honduras to pursue a better life in the states. As he talks about his mom, I notice tears begin to run down his face. He has not seen her in 19 years but smiles when he says, “but I talk to her every day”. He abruptly stops the conversation and says I want you to meet my mom. I said, “Right now?”. He answers, “It’s no problem.” He then grabs his phone and facetimes her. Of course, when she answers you know it’s Wilson’s mom. She has the same infectious smile and laughs like her son Wilson.
When he hangs up with her. He looks at me and says, “I need to tell you about my dad.” When he says the word “Dad” his disposition changes. I can tell there has been some hurt there. I learned that his dad is still living in Honduras. For decades his dad struggled with alcoholism. Wilson tells me his dad became a very angry, cynical man. While his dad was amid a dark struggle, God took Wilson on a different path. He became a believer in his early twenties. He married a beautiful lady and had a son and a daughter. He began to work as a pastor in a local church while doing construction work, and a couple of years ago Family Life Mission hired him. Father time as moved on for Wilson, he is now in his early forties. He pauses long enough for me to ask the question, “Do you get to see him much these days?” As soon as Dana the translator asked my question, Wilson begins to cry, smile and laugh all at the same time. I didn’t even know that was possible. I was not expecting what Wilson said next, “Oh yeah…. I see him every Sunday, he attends my church!” Wilson could tell by my reaction I was in disbelief. Long story short… After over 40 years of drinking, God graciously used Wilson to lead his dad to trust in Christ. His dad stopped drinking. And for the first time in his life he got married in his seventies. But it was this statement, which like a sword pierced my heart, “Even before my dad trusted in Christ, I had to forgive him because it was taking away my laughter (joy).” It’s hard to be full of laughter and joy when you are holding onto past grudges.
After lunch, I found myself alone walking up a hill back to the worksite. Wilson words were still echoing in my head. The question arose in my mind, “What do I do when the laughter fades?” I knew the answer all too well and maybe you do as well. The fun leaves, and I put on a surface grin but inside I am wound up tight. It was like the Holy Spirit was saying to me, “that is no way to live.” At that moment a verse from Psalms came to my mind, “Restore to me the joy of my salvation, and sustain me with a willing spirit.” As I continued to walk up the hill, I began repenting to God for allowing certain circumstances in my life to make the laughter fade.
Maybe, you understand what it is like to experience the laughter fading away in your life. Good news… the laughter will return. And it returns by bringing to us a strong quiet sense of satisfaction (joy). Never lose your laughter! Don’t settle for a surface grin when you were made for an infectious smile and laugh. Thank you, Wilson, for reminding me, “A joyful heart is good medicine!”