Laughter

Mary’s Monday Musings to Quilt Encouragement
Laughter

The game had everyone at the table laughing. The roles we assumed to achieve the goal of winning brought out the spoof in all of us. We laughed and laughed. I think it was because of the delight of laughing that we all pronounced this new game a great success. I never mastered a strategy for winning the game, but had a good time and watching others have a good time brought a satisfaction way beyond winning.

 

Everyone who has spent any time at all around small children knows how delightful a child’s laughter is.  It’s hard not to laugh alongside a laughing child whether we find the situation funny or not. A child’s laugh is contagious. An adult’s laughter also invites others to join in. There is an almost magnetic quality to laughter. It attracts us and draws us in. What fun I had watching my normally sedate male relatives throw their heads back in deep guffaws. What good moods we all had when we left the table. What sense of comradeship we shared. How much more relaxed we all felt. How much closer were the bonds that bound us beyond mere genetic connections or family loyalty.

 

I think our God enjoys our laughter as much as we do.  The Bible tells us in Proverbs 17:22 “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine….” In these tense days of pandemic, elections, and riots, try to plan some time for fun. Let’s ask God to help us find time and reason to laugh, to lighten up and find ways to not take ourselves so seriously. Instead, ask God to help us enjoy some light-hearted moments of good will towards one another. Share a smile and a hearty laugh, not the kind that degrades another, but the kind that can change us and unite our hearts.