“A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones.” Proverbs 17:22……………….
If you wonder what someone who dedicates her life utterly to loving and worshiping God and helping people to find and forever follow the Lord Jesus Christ, who tends to be serious much if not most of the time to say the least, given my heart’s cry to see people give their lives wholeheartedly to Christ each and every day and forever, is doing writing a devotional message about Fruit Loops cereal, please hear me out.
I don’t eat most of the breakfast food offered at the hotel where I am currently staying, but enjoy since breakfast is included in the price of a room taking a few little goodies instead of for myself for the ministry’s little crew of special needs & senior rescued dogs. This is how I discovered one day that what had begun as getting paralyzed dog Mr. Simeon to try a few bright and happy and cheery-colored Fruit loops had turned into him falling in love with Fruit Loops dipped in peanut butter and the other dogs getting excited to have their own fair share of whatever colored Fruit Loops they would get for the day. How joyful I was one morning, smiling and happy, delighted as I got ready to sit down for my morning’s writing to see the dogs get all lined up for a bunch of Fruit Loops.
What message could there possibly be in this? In the midst of the seriousness of this life, and the seriousness of following the Lord Jesus Christ, and the seriousness and heaviness of our individual trials and tribulations, of our challenges and hurdles, and the seriousness of this ever darkening world in which we see more and more heartbreaking news far and near all the way to right up close and personal, let us not forget to enjoy, and smile at, and laugh about, and be thankful for, the little blessings in life God gives us each and every day from handicapped and elderly dogs being ecstatic over rainbow-colored Fruit Loops to a beautiful sunset to an always-changing ocean to the hug of a friend to a yummy snack to fellowship time with a loved one to something silly that makes us laugh to whatever else God chooses to bless us with on a given day.
For some of us who have faced great trials in life, and who may even be facing them right now in this very hour, it can seem impossible to find anything to smile and laugh about and enjoy in the world around us. But I wonder, is it possible that for some of us, we simply need to open up our hearts and eyes and start seeing and enjoying our little blessings – right down to the Fruit Loops in life?