It has been gloomy here in our desert. The sky has been grey and cheerless, the mountains obscured by listless clouds seemingly reaching to the earth. Living almost constantly under the cheering influence of the sun, we desert-dwellers suffer a bit of enviro-shock when its warming rays are missing. With the darkening of the skies comes the darkening of the mood.  We grow tense, morose, and dilatory. It’s pathetic, I know, this micro-version of seasonal anxiety disorder, but, hey, nobody ever said you had to be tough to live in the desert with air-conditioning!

I liken the gloomy effects of an overcast day to the contagious results of a mother’s countenance.  Like most overused sayings, the expression “if Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy” is grounded in the basic truths of a mother’s influence. Mother’s smile, kind word, or loving caress spreads peace over her brood, but equally as potent is Mother’s frown, sharp rebuke, or impatient gesture.

On a personal level, if my lips are drawn tightly and my brow is furrowed in a frown, my family is less at ease. If I am short with my husband or a little one, my children become tense and respond to each other’s needs or interruptions with similar shortness.  If I have time for nothing but my own pursuits, they sense my impatience and emulate it. If I react to an offender with hasty justice for visible actions and do not take the time to understand the heart, my lack of compassion hardens that child toward me, toward the other perpetrators involved, and toward the disciplinary character building for which we strive.

On the other hand, if I hug an offender with my ears open and my heart turned in love toward that child, the tears on her face turn from anger to remorse.  If I forget my own concerns, however “important” I may feel they are, and focus on the needs of my child or my husband, not only do my troubles become less of an issue, but my family knows and feels that I care.  If I see the tears in the eyes of the guilty instead of the broken picture frame or spilled milk, the pendulum does not swing toward gloom.  If I can smile, the sun shines, and everybody smiles with me.

A foul attitude and a sour countenance are caustic to the soul. It sounds heavy, doesn’t it.  That’s because it is.  A smile from Mama may well be the cornerstone upon which the attitude of a household rests.  Cheerfulness is good medicine, our Bible tells us. Prescribe a heavy dose!

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