I want to be like Jeanie

Good morning, everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Live long, live well”

Our Bible verse for today: “All the days of the oppressed are miserable, but a cheerful heart has a continual feast.” Proverbs 15:15 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “I want to be like Jeanie”

In yesterday’s devotional I told you about a book I read a few months ago by the comedian Dick Van Dyke, “An Optimist’s Guide to a Happy Life: 100 Rules for Living to 100.” It is lighthearted and funny, and it takes a practical but whimsical approach to the issues of ageing.

About that same time, I read another similar book with the title “Keep on Keeping on: How to die young, as old as possible.” On the front cover is a picture of an elderly grey-haired couple wearing sweatshirts, jeans, and sunglasses. The lady has bright pink streaks in her hair. Then man has a full beard, he is wearing an orange wool beanie, he has a gold chain around his neck, a boom box on his shoulder, and with big smiles they are jamming to some tune. The book is all about living until you die. Staying young at heart even if you are old in years.

That reminded mean of my former neighbor in my old neighborhood. Her name is Jeanie and she is an 82-year-old widow. She stands about five-foot-nothing and she is petite. But she is active, happy, and always joking around. She hikes, she bakes for her neighbors, she goes places with friends – and she blows her own leaves. My house on that block was at the beginning of the cul-de-sac and hers was at the end. One time last autumn, I was in my front yard, and I noticed this person down the street in Jeanie’s yard blowing leaves. It was a short person, wearing bib overalls and with a ballcap turned around backwards. They had one of those big commercial-sized leaf blowers on their back, and the person was progressively building a huge pile of leaves.

At first, I thought Jeanie had hired someone to clear the leaves for her. But then I realized it was Jeannie. Five-foot nothing, 82-years old, bib overalls, ballcap turned backwards, big honking leaf blower on her back, smiling and humming, clearing her yard of leaves.

I want to be like Jeanie.

Proverbs 15:15 reminds us that those who go through life mumbling and grumbling and constantly finding things to complain about are destined for a life of misery. But those with a bright outlook and a cheerful heart have a continual feast in life. Those folks can find joy in the simple act of blowing leaves, or taking a walk around the neighborhood, or baking cookies for their friends, or in almost anything else.

A key element to living long and living well is that you don’t take life too seriously. Instead, you choose joy, you maintain a bright and sunny disposition, and you just enjoy life as it is under the circumstances as they are. That’s what Jeanie does.

I want to be like Jeanie. How about you?

God bless,
Pastor Jim

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