Just a Spoonful of Sugar
By Elizabeth Cole
“Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.”
Proverbs 16:24
Do you know any woman anywhere in your life that didn’t at least once pretend to be Julie Andrews singing in Mary Poppins or Sound of Music?! I don’t. And one of the most beloved of her songs is “Just a Spoonful of Sugar.” Remember how sweetly she sang that to the Banks children right before she gave them their medicine? My recollection of performing that song (and many others) was standing on her living room hearth with my best friend Kristen, using hairbrushes as microphones, while we sang along with the record. For your historical knowledge: a “record” was followed by a “cassette tape,” which was followed by a CD, which was replaced by your itty-bitty Ipod.
“Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down…in a most delightful way.” I wonder if Ms. Andrews knew she was singing a basic biblical principle of parenting and relationships and life. Without our bidding, a whole lot of circumstances have come into our lives that we didn’t choose. And, in fact, as we look back on past circumstances, we often change their names from “problems” to “healthy opportunities” – quite a bit like medicine. Nonetheless, a goodly number of those circumstances were completely outside of our control. But, according to Scripture, one of the things we do have control over is our attitude. We do get to choose whether we’ll sing, “In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. You find the fun and, snap, the job’s a game.” We do get to decide which part of the circumstance is going to get our fullest attention: what’s wrong, what doesn’t please me, what isn’t according to plan, what’s drudgery...or where there’s hope, where God is clearly at work, where I can smile and add a bit of delight.
We also have control over our words. Hmmm. We do get to choose how we’ll deliver the “medicine”: with an emphasis on my rights, with harshness, with shaming…or with lovingkindness, with gentleness, with a heart focused on God’s best. I can’t help but wonder how many conflicts we’ve had with others would never have occurred if right and accurate content had been delivered with a “spoonful of sugar.”
So, please pass the sugar…and while you’re at, could you grab a hairbrush and join me and that perky nanny in a rousing musical rendition…
GOING DEEPER:
1. Think about a time when someone’s loving words made all the difference for you in a given circumstance. Anything you can learn from it?
2. Identify a specific circumstance in your life right now that needs an attitude sweetening, and then ask God for His guidance and power to make the change.
FURTHER READING:
Colossians 3; Proverbs 15:1
Elizabeth is a wife and mother to three grown daughters. She is Oakwood’s director of connecting and of We Women.
