Choosing a Grateful Heart in the Midst of a Grumbling Culture

Years ago, I was at a women's retreat, and something happened that was funny. I don't even remember what it was, but I laughed until I cried. 

The next day, one of my friends said, "I watched you last night and realized I'd never seen you laugh before."

I was taken aback at first, but she was right. I didn't laugh much back then. 

Not long ago, I saw an article about the health benefits of laughter.  (WebMD, Mayo Clinic). I have some questions about the science behind the "studies" that support the article, but the premise is right. Even Scripture tells us a happy heart is good for us. 

"A cheerful heart is good medicine, 

but a broken spirit saps a person's strength." 

Proverbs 17:22 NLT

The lack of laughter has been on my mind a lot lately. For obvious reasons. There's not much to laugh about. 

Terrorists hack people to death and dream up new ways to torture and maim every day. India and Ethiopia have been in economic and civil turmoil. My friend has a voodoo church behind her house. I'm deeply concerned for people I love who are in danger. 

Evil abounds, and I've spent hours every day praying about the world's woes. There's nothing funny in any of it.

Even so, there's no getting past the need for a cheerful heart. There's no denying that our Lord Jesus was a party-going of man. 

I've worked long hours at very intense work for months. Short sleep. Too many skipped meals. Not even a chuckle, much less a laugh. 

In the midst of praying about terrorists and evil, I began to pray about laughing. 

I know. That sounds crazy, but Scripture says to pray about everything.

A few nights ago, a man in my Sunday School class posted about my casual health advice. He allowed me to see myself from his eyes, and it was the funniest thing I've read in ages. I laughed until I cried, and felt tremendously better afterward. (You can go to my Facebook page and read it.)

I felt so much better that I've decided to step aside from all the anger, turmoil, and evil for a long weekend, clean my house, and look for fun. 

Maybe you should do the same. No matter what provocation comes your way, a soft answer turns away wrath. A cheerful heart is good medicine. The world is a tough, dark place, 

Stop engaging and start laughing. You'll feel better. 
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ps - the flower in the photo always makes me smile.
In case you missed yesterday's post, here's the link: The Battle Plan of Jesus: Fighting With Love
If you'd like to help support this ministry outreach, here's the link to give: Global Outreach Acct 4841

#laughteristhebestmedicine #laugh

The Grateful Heart: Laughter

Yesterday, I attended the Veterans' Day ceremony at Toyota. Smiling, waving children from one of the daycare programs entertained with animated singing. They were so cute that we all smiled and laughed, not because they were humorous but because of the joy inherent in the presence of happy, singing children. 

Later, I had a meeting at my accountant's office. I needed to file a report online but didn't know how to access the form to complete it. In just a few minutes, the form was done, fee was paid, and we were finished. We laughed, not because it was humorous, but because it was so much easier than either of us had expected.

When I returned home, the Wonder Dogs were so happy to see me that they ran in circles around me for so long, I thought they might collapse from exhaustion. They tumbled over each other and played like puppies. I laughed again.

I was reading in Genesis 17 today and came to the pivotal passage where God made His covenant with Abram and changed his name to Abraham. He also told 99-year old Abraham that Sarah would bear a son. Abraham "fell on his face and laughed".  (17:17)

All that laughter reminded me of one of my mother's favorite verses. "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine." (Prov.17:22)  

Last year a research article from Loma Linda University offered "proof" that God's word is true. This was a tiny study done on 20 healthy, older adults.  Half the people watched funny videos. The other half sat quietly and talked. Salivary cortisol levels (stress hormone) and a short-term learning test were given at intervals. The cortisol levels went down and both learning and recall improved in the "humor" group.  

I didn't need a study to convince me a good laugh is good for me. For today, I'm grateful for the cleansing, healing power of laughter and thanking God that even the silliness of life can be used for great good. 

Go ahead. Laugh until you feel better. 

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photo courtesy of freeimages.com

In case you missed any of the past week's posts, here are the links: Maggie: Eye Protection, Maggie: Wanting Eye Drops, Grateful Heart: Superheroes and Missions Conference , The Blessings That Were Not,  Loss of Power, and Grateful Heart: Veterans.

The most read posts of the past week: The Grateful Heart: Orchestration of God

Here are two more posts on laughter: Blending Laughter and Laughter that Hides Tears.

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#laughteristhebestmedicine #laughter #stressrelief #gratefulheart

Blending Laughter

The box of chicken breasts from Omaha Steaks came with directions right on the box. "Blend with laughter," it said. Somehow, I had overlooked this when I put the box in the freezer. When I pulled them out today, I saw it and laughed out loud. My first thought was how funny it would be to order laughter from Penzey's. (My online spice source). 

A little later, I stopped by the post office to mail a package. Well, I had what I was going to mail. I just needed the package part. I was equipped with strapping tape, so the task of putting a small item in the smallest priority box should not have been a problem. I went to the desk with my box-to-be and started to fold it into shape. For some reason that is not yet clear to me, when I connected the left side of the box, the right side came loose. When I stopped to connect the right side, the left came loose. I was so surprised! It was like the box was alive and hopping loose from every direction. The postman was also very surprised, so he tried to help. Together was no better than by myself. The box found more ways to flip apart than either of us could contain. All that flipping somehow flipped my giggle box, too. I started laughing, and pretty soon I was laughing so hard I could hardly breathe. Before I knew it, I was laughing so hard I was crying. The really good news is that the postman was laughing almost as hard as I was. Neither of us could talk because we were laughing so hard. All the time we were laughing, that crazy box was flipping and coming disconnected. It was awful. Finaliy, the postman got the box perfectly assembled. All I needed to do was put my item in the box and seal it. Unbelievably, when I put my item in the box, it popped apart again, even though he was holding it! That triggered more laughter and by this point I was doing a pretty good hyena imitation. (Truthfully, even as I type this, I am laughing like crazy). We had to do the whole box assembly thing again. 

At long last, the item was in the box and the postman was holding the box carefully together. All that was needed was to pull the protective paper off the glue strip and seal it up. Of course, I slipped my fingernail under the edge of that paper and it shredded like I was making slaw! I'm not going to belabor it any more, but it was a Keystone Kops operation to get it strapped down, complete with more uncontrollable laughter.  I desperately tried to regain my composure and some semblance of my dignity (After all, I am an elected official in this town!) but without success. I was still laughing when I drove out of the parking lot. It was the most fun I've ever had at the post office!

When I returned home, I saw the Blend with laughter" box again, and thought, "That's exactly what I did. I blended my day with laughter!" 

"A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones." (Proverbs 17:22 KJV)