Proverbs 17:22A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.Proverbs Daily is a reader-supported publication. All posts are free, but all donations help spread the message. When you see the word “upgrade,” you’re simply invited to help me make the sacred positively contagious...thank you in advance for becoming a free or paid subscriber.Have you ever laughed so hard your stomach hurt… and afterward you felt better? Clearer? Lighter? Almost… healed?Turns out, Proverbs wasn’t exaggerating. I love it when Science and Scripture sing in harmony, and this tune is phenomenal.For millennia, humans have treated laughter like decoration — but your body treats it like medication.Proverbs 17:22 says: “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.”And listen — that’s more than piffy poetry. That’s straight up physiology.🧬 What Joy Does to Your BodyNeuroscience tells us:* Laughter lowers cortisol (your stress hormone).* It boosts endorphins (your natural painkillers).* It strengthens your immune system — increasing antibodies and natural killer cell activity.If Big Pharma could bottle all that, you know they would!But baby — that’s free 99, direct from Heaven.Joy heals.That’s why the Proverb calls it “good medicine” — in Hebrew, it literally means “causes good healing.” So you could say:Wholesome laughter is a catalyst — it sparks a healing chain reaction that moves through your whole body.🦴 What Stress Does to Your BonesBut the second half of the verse is DEAD serious:“…a crushed spirit dries up the bones.”And again—this isn’t symbolic. Medical researchers now link long-term stress to weakened immune function AND weakened bone density.Depression, anxiety, chronic shame? They literally drain the life right out of your bones.The VanderKolk’s, the husband and wife team that wrote The Body Keeps the Score said it plainly: “The body registers the internal conflict… it responds even when the mind tries to deny it.”Solomon said it 3,000 years earlier:“Your inner world eventually shows up in your body.”What you carry in your heart shows up in your health.🌫 Joy Isn’t Denial — It’s DirectionNow hear me:A cheerful heart doesn’t mean running around acting goofy all the time. It doesn’t mean “pretend everything’s fine.”It actually means: Realizing that everything isn’t fine — and that’s why I’m choosing joy on purpose because it reconnects me with Godand strengthens me for everything I’m walking through.”That’s not delusion.That’s discipline.🌱 The EncouragementIf stress can get ‘all into your bones’, so can joy!So take your medicine: gratitude, laughter, friendship, worship, beauty, breath.Because joy isn’t a luxury emotion — it’s God’s healing strategy.💥 RememberJoy is medicine. Bitterness is malnutrition. Choose the right cure.🙏🏽PrayerHeal my heart, Lord, and fill my bones with joy.Today’s ChallengeGive yourself one intentional joy practice today: Call someone who makes you laugh. Watch something that genuinely cracks you up. Revisit a truly delightful memory. Then notice how your body feels afterward. Because Scripture — and science — agree on this: joy heals.About the AuthorFred Lynch is a creative communicator, author, and Christian Hip Hop pioneer. To learn more about Fred and what he’s up to now…click here or you can find him in all the socials by searching the handle: heyfredlynch📱Experience Proverbs Daily by Subscribing!Ready to receive daily wisdom directly on your phone?Go to proverbsdaily.org for the app or just click that Subscribe button right now!Be Wise and Be Well...peace.Thanks for reading Proverbs Daily! This post is public so feel free to share it.
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