The Value of a Good Laugh

  You know it’s going to be a bad day when . . .

·      Your knees buckle but your belt won’t.

·      You sink your teeth into a juicy steak – and they stay there.

·      You plop down in a rocking chair and can’t make it go.

·      You routinely dim your lights for economics rather than romance.

Does your image of a holy person include a smiling face and laughter? Or is a saint someone with a stern face? Did you ever notice how often the Psalms exhort us to “rejoice in the Lord”? And this is from the Bible: “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength” (Proverbs 17:22).

God must have a sense of humor. Did you ever see a giraffe, anteater, or duck-billed platypus? And what about the zebra? Now there’s a good case for God’s willingness to do something just for the fun of it.

One of the most refreshing things in human experience is a belly laugh. Nothing relieves stress so quickly and completely as laughter. If you have children or grandchildren, I guarantee that fifteen minutes in the floor with them tonight will do more to invigorate you from the day’s tensions than whining or having a stiff drink. If you don’t have children, just act silly with someone you care about for a quarter hour. It’ll do you so much good that you’ll make it a habit.

I once heard a fellow lament that most of the Christians he knew had faces as long as mules and looked like they had just bitten into green persimmons. Oh, I hope not! What a poor recommendation of faith to unbelievers. What a terrible misrepresentation of the God who, we say, gives meaning to our lives. Without joy, what is the meaning?

There’s a serious side to humor, all right. What you laugh at tells a lot about your character and self-image. But laughter itself shouldn’t be suspect as a waste of time or a distraction. God shines through when people laugh.

So lighten up. Devote some energy this week to learning to laugh at your life’s comedic twists and turns. After all, you’re not getting out of it alive anyway!

Easter: Light for the Dark Places

 

When I was about ten years old, my mother and father took me to Carlsbad Caverns. I still remember the gigantic stalagmites and stalactites. I can almost feel the cold of being deep inside the earth on a hot summer day in New Mexico. But my most vivid memory is of the moment when our guide had all of us find a place to sit down and – after warning of what was about to happen – turned off all the lights that had been put inside the dark belly of the earth.

I felt like I was tumbling in space. My heart raced. With one hand I grasped the rock ledge on which I was sitting and with the other reached for my dad.

Fortunately, the tour guide didn't allow it to last long. He turned on his flashlight. And it looked as bright as a million candle-power searchlight!

An ordinary flashlight that costs $3.95, complete with batteries, can push back the overwhelming, frightening darkness of the Carlsbad Caverns. A beam that would be hardly noticeable at ground level on a sunny day looked like a laser in deep darkness. As soon as it appeared, my stomach gave up its tumbling sensation. My lunch became stable again.

I could see my parents’ faces in outline again and knew I wasn't alone. I sensed that the single light in our guide's hand heralded the return of the lights which had guided us previously and whose presence we had taken for granted.

When God created Planet Earth to be our home, he came onto a scene that was formless and dark. He pushed back the darkness with light, then set about to bring order to chaos. It takes light for life to survive and thrive.

When Jesus was re-creating the human race and restoring hope to despairing people, he came onto a scene made formless and dark again. This darkness had come by human rebellion against his holy will and humanity's inhumanity to its own. In his birth, teaching, lifestyle, and personal victory over death on Easter morning, he pushed back the darkness with the light of heaven's bright glory. To use John's language, Jesus was the light shining into our darkness; the darkness could not conquer the light he brought.

If you are feeling the head-over-heels sensation that comes of being in the deep darkness, look in his direction. Jesus is still the Light of the World. And it is only in the presence of light that you can live, grow, and flourish.

“I am the light of the world,” he said. “If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life” (John 8:12 NLT).