HOW OFTEN AND HOW HARD DO YOU LAUGH?

HOW OFTEN AND HOW HARD DO YOU LAUGH?

 

Laughter breaks the chains of perfectionism, control, manipulation, and bitterness. It also breaks down barriers with others, especially if you learn to laugh at yourself. By the way, if you can’t belly laugh yet, practice! It’s a stress release and a freedom worth gold. Ask God to teach you to laugh. It will help you put your life into perspective. Smile and laugh, alone and with others, every chance you get. People who need to be reached with the gospel will be less likely to respond to you if you are rigid, inflexible, legalistic, too serious, or sour-faced!

 

SMILES, CHUCKLES, AND BELLY LAUGHING

 

Think about what makes you laugh. Is it your pets, wholesome comedy routines, television bloopers, or costume parties? Is it toddlers’ quizzical facial expressions or your teenaged daughter’s dramatic reenactment of conversations with her friends? Do you laugh at political satire, practical jokes, comic strips, or home videos? Bless others with your laughter. LeAnn Thieman, a nurse who helped rescue three hundred babies from Vietnam, got an unexpected chuckle on that particular mission.

 

LEANN THIEMAN HAD A GOOD LAUGH

 

LeAnn begins every day by reciting Psalm 25. Her favorite part is verse 4: “Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths.” It’s that type of daily trust in God’s direction that exemplifies her life. She is an author (three books in the Chicken Soup for the Soul series) and speaker, who shares lessons learned from the extraordinary circumstances of the Vietnam orphan airlift in 1975.

 

LeAnn had volunteered to escort six babies from Vietnam to their adoptive families in the United States. Organization officials then asked her to smuggle ten thousand dollars into the country to help the cause of the orphans. Shortly thereafter, the North Vietnamese army closed Saigon to external traffic and outside communication. This placed many orphaned babies and children in serious danger. Enroute to Vietnam, LeAnn had to hide all that cash in her bra, resulting in hilarious antics in the airport bathroom! When she arrived in Saigon, she was greeted with these words: “President Ford just approved Operation BabyLift. You’ll be helping us take out three hundred babies!” Shaken to her core, LeAnn prayed for courage.

 

Among many other things LeAnn learned, what did she learn from the incident about laughter? That “laughter is a great coping skill and one of God’s most awesome gifts to us. We need to create laughter every day in our lives, because unbridled joy is one of the best ways to show our gratitude to God for his love, protection, and provisions.”

 

How Often and How Hard Do You Laugh? The Captives Laugh

 

When the Jews celebrated their release from Babylonian captivity, they laughed and sang. Read Psalm 126:1–6. Are you, too, long overdue for a good laugh?

 

SCRIPTURE TO PONDER

 

[God speaking of bringing his people back from captivity] “Thanksgivings will pour out of the windows; laughter will spill through the doors. Things will get better and better.  Depression days are over. They’ll thrive, they’ll flourish.” (Jeremiah 30:19, MSG)

 

SUGGESTED PRAYER

 

Dear Lord Christ, you promise that when you come to reign, thanksgivings will pour out of windows and laughter will spill through doors. You say that things will get better and better; depression days will be over, and the people will thrive and flourish. Today I, _________, pray that my life right now will be filled to overflowing with smiles and laughter ( from chuckles to belly laughing)—and that my laughter will be contagious to those who so desperately need to put their depression days behind them. Help me take myself much less seriously than I do you, Jesus.

 

So . . . What Insight, Prayer, or Action Step Has God Laid on Your Heart Today?