Thursday, March 22, 2007
LAUGHTER, THE GREAT GIFT.....
What is laughter? Why did God create us with the ability to laugh? The dictionary says to laugh or laughter is to express emotion, typically mirth, by a series of inarticulate sounds, characteristically with the mouth open into a wide smile. The experience or appearance of joy.
Do you laugh very much? Do you smile very much? It seems we were made to experience great joy along with the outward show of laughter but many hardly can get out a small chuckle when others enjoy a good belly laugh. I notice in the sidewalk shots on TV that most people have a serious and even sour look on their faces as they trudge on to their destination. Stress is everywhere.
Growing up I spent a lot of time with my maternal grandmother. She was a good woman and a godly woman. Few could measure up to her virtue or strict discipline she lived by. I rarely saw my grandmother laugh in all the years I knew her. Life was not funny for my grandmother. It’s true she had a hard life, yet I’ve known others who have had hard lives and could find a lot of humor in any situation.
Some people have the gift of laughter that makes everyone laugh along with them even when they don’t know what’s so funny. The Bible tells us there is a time to laugh and a time to refrain from laughing. It’s powerful medicine. Science has now proved that people who are happy are sick less than others, take less medication than others and are living longer than people who are depressed or angry at life.
Laughter is a great stress reducer. It difuses anger and helps you digest your food better. Who do you enjoy being around? Someone who is optimistic, pleasant, enjoying life and giving you pause to laugh? Or maybe you seek out folks who are always “down” and their tone is monotonously flat.
I don’t see God as a grumpy old man, cracking a whip and jotting down every mistake I make. I see Him as someone who is pleasant with a face of wisdom and compassion. If He created us with the ability to laugh, then I feel He has humor and enjoys a good laugh as well. I think we were made to laugh a lot more than we do. If that were true, I think a lot of us would be less likely to get ourselves in the messes we seem to do.
Stop and count how many times you have a good laugh tomorrow. If you’re surprised, and under-whelmed……try to laugh more. Pretty soon you’ll have more people laughing and smiling around you……because……because it’s catching! It’s the best beauty treatment you can give your face…..smiles are much prettier than a scoul.
It’s possible to push the saddness and negative feelings you have off the radar. I love what Abraham Lincoln said once when scolded by a friend because he thought he laughed at something he shouldn’t have. Lincoln looked him in the eye and said, “If I didn’t laugh, I would surely cry.” Trust me, Lincoln had a lot to be sad about but he preferred to lighten the situation rather than make it worse. There are always nay-sayers who want to shoot you down because they perceive you just aren’t politically correct or perhaps professional enough……that’s OK….their face would probably fall off if they ever cracked a smile.
Are you going bankrupt, did your house burn down, have you lost your last friend? Did your son marry a woman 30 years older than he is, or did the stock market crash? When the hard times of life come, it is hardly the things we surround ourselves with that matter. I am not one who enjoys loss of any sort but does it really do any good to let it ruin the essential things of living? Life, for instance.
For some of us, our days are growing short. Does it do any good to let it ruin what time we may have left or is it better to find pleasure in each day with the gifts God allows? Rocky is like a rock. He is steadfast and in control. He goes about each day with simple pleasures…….and we laugh. There is a time to laugh and a time to refrain from laughter. I do not mean to be disrespectful but there is a day for all of us when we will answer a distant call……keep hope alive and hold tight!
I know whatever happens is a plan……..maybe not our plan, but we have to believe, a better one. Whatever happens cannot effect, destroy, postpone, deny, or forestall the good things God has in store for us. We belong to Him and we are in His care.
We wouldn’t want to be anywhere else…………
Until tomorrow, I am,
Essentially Esther
Do you laugh very much? Do you smile very much? It seems we were made to experience great joy along with the outward show of laughter but many hardly can get out a small chuckle when others enjoy a good belly laugh. I notice in the sidewalk shots on TV that most people have a serious and even sour look on their faces as they trudge on to their destination. Stress is everywhere.
Growing up I spent a lot of time with my maternal grandmother. She was a good woman and a godly woman. Few could measure up to her virtue or strict discipline she lived by. I rarely saw my grandmother laugh in all the years I knew her. Life was not funny for my grandmother. It’s true she had a hard life, yet I’ve known others who have had hard lives and could find a lot of humor in any situation.
Some people have the gift of laughter that makes everyone laugh along with them even when they don’t know what’s so funny. The Bible tells us there is a time to laugh and a time to refrain from laughing. It’s powerful medicine. Science has now proved that people who are happy are sick less than others, take less medication than others and are living longer than people who are depressed or angry at life.
Laughter is a great stress reducer. It difuses anger and helps you digest your food better. Who do you enjoy being around? Someone who is optimistic, pleasant, enjoying life and giving you pause to laugh? Or maybe you seek out folks who are always “down” and their tone is monotonously flat.
I don’t see God as a grumpy old man, cracking a whip and jotting down every mistake I make. I see Him as someone who is pleasant with a face of wisdom and compassion. If He created us with the ability to laugh, then I feel He has humor and enjoys a good laugh as well. I think we were made to laugh a lot more than we do. If that were true, I think a lot of us would be less likely to get ourselves in the messes we seem to do.
Stop and count how many times you have a good laugh tomorrow. If you’re surprised, and under-whelmed……try to laugh more. Pretty soon you’ll have more people laughing and smiling around you……because……because it’s catching! It’s the best beauty treatment you can give your face…..smiles are much prettier than a scoul.
It’s possible to push the saddness and negative feelings you have off the radar. I love what Abraham Lincoln said once when scolded by a friend because he thought he laughed at something he shouldn’t have. Lincoln looked him in the eye and said, “If I didn’t laugh, I would surely cry.” Trust me, Lincoln had a lot to be sad about but he preferred to lighten the situation rather than make it worse. There are always nay-sayers who want to shoot you down because they perceive you just aren’t politically correct or perhaps professional enough……that’s OK….their face would probably fall off if they ever cracked a smile.
Are you going bankrupt, did your house burn down, have you lost your last friend? Did your son marry a woman 30 years older than he is, or did the stock market crash? When the hard times of life come, it is hardly the things we surround ourselves with that matter. I am not one who enjoys loss of any sort but does it really do any good to let it ruin the essential things of living? Life, for instance.
For some of us, our days are growing short. Does it do any good to let it ruin what time we may have left or is it better to find pleasure in each day with the gifts God allows? Rocky is like a rock. He is steadfast and in control. He goes about each day with simple pleasures…….and we laugh. There is a time to laugh and a time to refrain from laughter. I do not mean to be disrespectful but there is a day for all of us when we will answer a distant call……keep hope alive and hold tight!
I know whatever happens is a plan……..maybe not our plan, but we have to believe, a better one. Whatever happens cannot effect, destroy, postpone, deny, or forestall the good things God has in store for us. We belong to Him and we are in His care.
We wouldn’t want to be anywhere else…………
Until tomorrow, I am,
Essentially Esther
