My dear friends,
The ability to laugh is God-given. It is best seen when children come together and play. What an amazing thing it is how they laugh and have fun. Those are moments when life is bubbling over with joy and sheer enthusiasm.
Yes, such laughter can have echoes of heaven in it too. As Corrie ten Boom pointed out, “I had always thought that the laughter of the little children in an empty cathedral was the most beautiful of all hymns of praise.” You cannot give laughter a nearer place to the heart of God than that, can you?
When you laugh, there are many good things that happen. It helps you connect with people. For laughter is positively contagious. People laughing together is an excellent way to build relationships. It helps friends and members of family bond with each other. It helps increase trust and intimacy as well.
Again laughter is an expression of joy in one’s heart. Sadly, anxiety and worry, depression and loneliness are ills of modern society that prevent people from laughing out loud. It is in this context that laughter is understood to be the best medicine.
For laughter can relieve stress and increase our health in many different ways. While the smile of babies and the elderly are incomparably beautiful, it is the hearty laughter that acts as a stress buster.
One area of life that has been often seen as off-limits for laughter is one’s relationship with God. Though it is true that God is holy and no man or woman can stand in his presence based on his or her merits, goodness or achievements in life; it is also true that God wishes to impart gladness and joy to those who love him.
King David expressed his sincere hope that God will fill him with joy in his presence and eternal pleasures at his right hand.* Therefore it is clear that God gives joy and laughter to those who love him. It is indeed a sad thing to go through life and never laugh. For, as the noted theologian Karl Barth said, “Laughter is the closest thing to the grace of God.”
Again, King Solomon many centuries ago expressed this truth in these words, “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.”* It is up to you to decide to step out of despair into a mode of thankfulness and praise. Laughter is absent from many lives, simply because people allow negative circumstances to crowd out their joy. So it is up to you again to see that your joy is not stolen from you.
Finally, let me ask you one question? What prevents you from laughing? Whatever be the reason you cannot afford not to laugh. Therefore take time to go out with friends and family. Do something positive and creative together. Enjoy healthy fun and entertainment.
Let me conclude with a wish and prayer for you. May God send long-cherished blessings your way today. May you find things close to your heart restored to you. Then you will be like “men who dreamed,” and your “mouths be filled with laughter and your tongues with songs of joy.”* Thank you.
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*Psalm 16:11, Proverbs 17:22, Psalm 126:1, 2
“Jesus, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame.” — Hebrews 12:2 Bible