“A JOYFUL HEART IS GOOD MEDICINE…” PROVERBS 17:22a CSB
My friend Kelly always makes me laugh. A native of Ohio, she has a delivery when she makes a point that brings a smile to my face. Her view of life is honest and real. I always learn something new from her, being 10 years younger than me, she’s more hip than I am. She always has something new for me to learn. We need friends in our lives who make us laugh, deep, belly roll laughs. Laughter is good medicine. Laughter is the only way we can exercise our liver. Based on an article from “Green Your Life,” our liver is the second largest organ in our body, performing over 500 functions. The article gives 10 ways we can take care of our liver, laughter is one of them. According to the article, “A good hearty laugh translates into liver health by increasing circulation and improving the flow of bile.” God created our livers, and He knows what is best for them, laughter.
In “The Laughter of Jesus” by Robert Lavaude, he explores the topic of Jesus and laughter. The article concludes humor is found in God’s nature, we don’t see it because the Bible doesn’t come complete with emoticons. In other words, we’re not given clues what Jesus is saying is funny because there aren’t exclamation points and smiley faces to tell us so. He uses an example of reading scripture out loud, not realizing his seven year old son was listening until he heard his son laugh. When he asked him what was funny, he said the Scripture. The author had been reading Matthew 7:3-5 which talks about taking the plank out of your own eye, instead of the speck out of someone else’s. To a 7 year old boy, that sounded funny, and he’s not wrong. Visualizing a plank in our eye’s does have humor attached to it, but we don’t think of it that way. Maybe because we don’t have the capability of laughing at ourselves. We know, if we’re focused on the speck, and missing the plank, we’re the ones who need work, not whoever we’re judging.
Kelly has the ability to laugh at herself, which is why she makes me laugh. She also has taught me how to laugh at myself, which makes life much more enjoyable. Laughter is vital to our health. We need it for our liver, we need it for our sanity, we need it for our soul. A few weeks ago we were at dinner with friends, at the end of the evening we stood outside the restaurant enjoying a good laugh. All four of us were bent over in laughter, that moment has made me smile often in the weeks since. Laughter stays with us, laughter can bring a smile to your face weeks later when you remember the moment. Laughter is a sign of a joyful heart, which is good medicine for our soul.
Today I’m thankful for laughter. What are you thankful for?
