I think we often get so caught in the business of faith that we forget the laughter. Laughter is good. I worry so much about the lessons I might need to learn from the pain in my life that I forget that God can teach us in laughter. I do believe that in the absence of the stuff we fill our lives with, God can speak. God can use a self-help book, but we don't need self-help books. God can speak to us throughout all of life and He can heal us through ways that might seem odd to us. Laughter can help us through our insecurities. Silliness can help us in humbling us. Joy can show us that our worries are temporary. I have a hard time imagining Jesus laughing for some reason. Maybe because we are often told to be serious, to be quiet and to listen so that we can learn. I know that holiness is serious stuff, but the way that we are made holy may not always be done in such a serious way at times. Jesus must have laughed at times.
I can remember a time when I must have been in about grade eight or so and this image has stayed with me and brought me laughter. Would Jesus have laughed? A boy named Trevor was in about grade one and it was milk day at school. He was actually leaving at the end of the day and he hadn't finished his carton of milk quite yet. His backpack was sliding off and with a shrug of the shoulder he could move it back up, only he hadn't thought of the chocolate milk he was still holding in his hand. Well, with a shrug of the shoulder he managed to dump chocolate milk on his head. He looked quite shocked. I wonder now too what his mom must have thought when he came home that day and what he told her. It was something that bonded me to him and he doesn't even know. I see humour in it because I know I or one of my children could have done the same thing.
Another story I often tell my children is one about the time yawned and hiccuped at the same time during a test in grade five. (it was loud!) I still laugh and I still act it out for those who ask. We can't take ourselves too seriously all the time. We can learn in laughter as well as pain. It is also the joy that often draws others to us.
Another story I often tell my children is one about the time yawned and hiccuped at the same time during a test in grade five. (it was loud!) I still laugh and I still act it out for those who ask. We can't take ourselves too seriously all the time. We can learn in laughter as well as pain. It is also the joy that often draws others to us.
Thank you for this reminder!
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