Joy and laughter are all apart of God's plan for us. Psalm 16:11 "You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forever." God's desire is that we have joy. Literally, if we are aiming to walk in His presence daily, consistently, then we are walking in the fullness of joy. The word fullness literally means to be filled to capacity. You need nothing else because God's presence has filled you so full that you are at capacity. Everything else that is given is simply, overflow.
Laughing is an expression of joy that comes from the heart of God Himself. Humor is encouraging and edifying to the body of Christ. Colossians 3:23 "Whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men." Laughter and joy comes under the category of whatever! Humor exhibits the joy, the passion, and the adventure of the Christian life.
Whenever I am around a group of people who are new to one another and haven't really met before the first technique I use in encouraging a comfortable atmosphere is humor. I am a very sarcastic human being and I love seeing people smile and laugh. The more people laugh the more relaxed they become and are able to be themselves and open up.
Literally laughter and music are two of God's finest gifts to us. They give us the ability to express our inner feelings about God with a sense of joy, anticipation, and participation. Participation being a key component. The Bible reminds us, "The joy of the Lord is our strength." (Neh 8:10)
The best source of humor is right at the end of your nose. Especially if you're looking in the mirror. The ability to laugh at yourself is a sign of maturity, of healthy self-esteem, and of having your priorities straight. Remember, God is on the throne and we are on the ground. Humble, humus, and human; all words well-suited to our earthly imperfection compared to God's perfection.
Even more emotionally healing than laughing at ourselves is the ability to continue to laugh and choose joy when the story is repeated. Laughter is medicine to the soul. It is very healing. People in the medical field tell us what Bible has said all along, "A merry heart does good, like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones." (Prov. 17:22) We can make a choice. Be upset or talk about sour grapes; or be embarrassed -- or we can choose to laugh at ourselves. When we laugh, we heal.
Laughter puts the body in a state of relaxation. In a physically relaxed state, we take our foot off the pain accelerator and put on the brakes. Our bodies, in my opinion, were made for laughing. My laugh is a bit infectious and creepy; but sometimes when I start, I just can't stop. And when I look up, my eyes half squinted, I see others around me laughing too. And their faces illuminate joy. It's coming from the inside and is just a outward appearance of how their hearts feel at that moment.
Literally consider these few facts about laughter:
1. Laughter is a natural pain reducer.
2. Laughter increases our ability to cope with life.
3. Laughter massages our internal organs (and who doesn't love a good massage, eh?)
4. Laughter exercises our facial muscles
5. Laughter increased the heart rate and improves circulation (all perfect timing with February being heart health month!)
6. Laughter oxygenates the body.
7. Laughter stimulates the immune system (and that needs stimulation guys!).
We've all been in those high-stress, low-strength situations where we turn to our lover, or our best friend, or our family members and say, "Someday we'll laugh about this." I say, why wait? If we can see the humor potential, lets just dive right in! The time and distance between the difficulty and our ability to laugh about it is what I call the "stress zone." We can't hurry the time, but we can decrease the distance between the first and the last moment we spend in the zone.
Today, lets choose laughter and joy. I know it's hard, but don't wait.
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