Laughter!

As I was helping my wife out of our car in the garage yesterday, a bright yellow book inside a storage box caught my attention.  When I walked to the box I had to chuckle as I recognized the book as my eleventh grade yearbook.  So I thought "what a hoot", put the book under my arm and brought it into the house and tossed it on the table.

Later in the day as the afternoon shadows began to fill the living room, I picked up the yearbook and decided to take a walk down memory lane.  I have to admit that I never really did keep up with many of my high school friends, except for my wife of course!  After attending the local junior college everybody just went their own ways.  My wife and I always seemed to be too preoccupied with life to attend the annual reunions, but finally did make our twentieth in 1991.  We ended up having a really good time too!  It was funny to me as I (proudly) remember many individuals coming up to my wife and asking “Piper, is that you?”  By then she had obviously lost the little kid look that she carried for years. (I probably told you about the time we went shopping together when we were seniors and one downtown character accused me of robbing the cradle as we walked hand in hand across one of the busy thoroughfares!) At the reunion she looked like a million bucks in a tailored new dress.

The first section I went to in the yearbook was the Junior class pictures to see Piper’s pose.  We were just getting to know each other that year and I couldn’t remember what her class photo was like.  After gazing at her photo, mine and some other friends, I turned to the inside cover and began reading the various notes that people had written to me when they signed my book.  The many memories of those who took the time to write things down came back to me as I read their words.  When I turned to the actual first page of the yearbook I took notice that Piper had signed my book in a central position right over the title page picture and yearbook introduction.

It was fun to read her inscription where she jotted down some of the experiences we shared in a class together.  Her writing brought back all the initial thoughts I had about her as we laughed our way through academic English.  While I don’t really remember too much about the actual class except for a few of the books we read and I never understood, I clearly recall seeing Piper’s smiling face every time I looked behind me in class.  She seemed to always be laughing and was quick to turn any situation around into an opportunity to enjoy life.

When I put down the yearbook, I sat back and laughed at the fun times of our past and then had to hold back the tears as I considered my wife’s current condition.  But swallowing hard, I quickly put my thoughts back into a Godly perspective with the understanding that her current condition is subject to change into the form and fit of God’s promises concerning the long and satisfying life He has called her to live. (See Psalm 91:16)  So with that determination, I decided it was time for my wife and I to take a dose of medicine. 

I picked up that old yellow relic of a yearbook, opened to the title page, stomped into the kitchen and read what my wife had written out loud to her.  With that we both burst into laughter.  Whether she really understood what we were laughing at our was just enjoying my silly antics I don’t really know or care, the point was that we were laughing.

According to Proverbs 17:22 “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine!” (KJV) and we were taking our medicine!  Through the ups and downs of our lifetime together we have always found a way to laugh at the good times as well as during the trying times when the pressures of life seemed to abound.  Many people I know tend to get down and sullen when hard times come.  But you know what?  The rest of that verse in Proverbs 17:22 tells us that “depression drains one’s strength.” (God’s Word ©)  Laughter on the other hand brings with it the joy of the Lord and Nehemiah 8:10 relates that “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” (KJV)

So how would you like to face your daily lives…  weak and depressed or strong and full of joy?  Well, you know my answer.  Hopefully you’ll also make the laughter decison this weekend and take a healthy dose of God’s medicine.  Then like my wife always did, find the opportunities to bring that joy into someone else’s life!  Have a great weekend.  Stay in tune to His Word and keep asking yourself… “What JOY am I expecting TO GIVE today?”